DNA
Geneva, Switzerland, 6 October 2022 – The winners of the 2022 Aga Khan Music Awards were named today. The triennial awards, established by His Highness the Aga Khan in 2018, recognize outstanding creativity, promise and entrepreneurship in music in societies around the world where Muslims have a significant presence. Winners and Special Mention recipients will share a $500,000 prize and professional development opportunities. These opportunities include commissions for the creation of new works, recording and artist management contracts, support for pilot education initiatives, and technical or curatorial advice for archiving, preservation and music distribution.
The Aga Khan Music Awards reflect the belief of His Highness the Aga Khan, 49th Hereditary Imam of Ismaili Muslims, that music can serve as a cultural anchor, deepening a sense of community, identity and heritage, while reaching out in a powerful way to people from different walks of life.
In naming the winners, the awards main jury has expressed its desire to support as many outstanding nominees as possible from the geographically and culturally diverse pool of nearly 400 nominations at a time when musicians and music educators are in dire need. While contributing to the preservation and continued development of musical heritage, many laureates tap into the power of music to raise awareness of social and environmental issues.
The winners of the Aga Khan Music Awards will be celebrated at a ceremony and series of affiliated events in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, held in conjunction with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture from 29 to 31 October 2022.
The winners of the 2022 Aga Khan Music Awards are:
Winners
• Zakir Hussain (India)
Special Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his highly visible model of enlightened cross-cultural musicality that elevated the status of tabla in India and around the world through countless artistic collaborations, concert tours, commissions , recordings and film music.
• Afel Bocoum (Mali)
Singer and guitarist from Niafunké, Mali, whose music combines acoustic guitar with local instruments to echo the sound of “desert blues” in a more earthy and traditional style.
• Asin Khan Langa (India)
Sarangi player, singer, composer and community activist from the hereditary Langa musical community of Rajasthan, who performs Sufi poetry to traditional and newly composed melodies.
• Coumbane Mint Ely Warakane (Mauritania)
Singer and ardin (harp) player from Trarza, in southwestern Mauritania, who performs the music of Mauritanian griots in a deeply traditional style.
• Daud Khan Sadozai (Afghanistan)
Leader of the Afghanrubab who had a major impact on the preservation, development and dissemination of Afghan music around the world.
• Peni Candra Rini (Indonesia)
Indonesian composer, improviser, singer and educator whose knowledge of traditional Indonesian performing arts informs her creation of new works produced worldwide.
• Soumik Datta (United Kingdom)
Sarod player who merges his background in classical Hindustani music with pop, rock, electro and movie soundtracks to raise awareness of pressing social issues including climate change, refugees and mental health.
• Yahya Hussein Abdallah (Tanzania)
Singer and composer of devotional songs and Quran reciter from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania who composes and sings in Swahili as well as some of the 126 local languages of Tanzania.
• Yasamin Shahhosseini (Iran)
Young master of the oud who reinvents the place of this instrument in Iranian music through his innovative compositions and improvisations.
• Zarsanga (Pakistan)
Singer from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, known as the queen of Pashtun folklore for her career-long devotion to the orally transmitted traditional music of the Pashtun tribes.
Special Mentions
• Dilshad Khan (India)
Tenth generation sarangi player from a hereditary lineage from Rajasthan expanding the language of sarangiin film music and through innovative cross-cultural collaborative projects.
• Golshan Ensemble (Iran)
Four women who perform traditional Iranian music with a contemporary sound and are active as teachers, with a particular focus on transmitting their musical tradition to girls and women.
• Sain Zahoor (Pakistan)
Punjabi musician with a lifelong practice of chanting Sufi poetry at local shrines and festivals, often accompanied by ecstatic dancing.
• Seyyed Mohammad Musavi&Mahoor Institute (Iran)
Founder and long-time director of the Mahoor Institute of Culture and Arts, which has made fundamental contributions to the development of Iranian music and musicology.
• Zulkifli&Bur’am (Aceh, Indonesia)
Revitalizers of Acehnese song traditions who have cultivated community development among young people through their participation in Bur’am, a traditional song and drum ensemble created by Zulkifli.
The main jury of the Aga Khan Music Awards also named Musallam al-Kathiry the winner of a special award for excellence in the service of Omani musical heritage. Mr. al-Kathiry, a music researcher, artistic director, performer and composer from Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, has made significant contributions to the collection, documentation, preservation and dissemination of Omani music.