Aga Khan Music Awards 2019 to be held

The Aga Khan Music Awards (AKMA) is  a part of the Aga Khan Music Initiative (AKMI), which is an interregional music and arts education programme with worldwide presence. The music awards were established by His Highness the Aga Khan to recognise creativity in the field of music and to rejuvenate it in Muslim dominant societies across the world.

The Master Jury of the AKMA announced the winners and finalists for the awards' inaugural ceremony. They comprise of nine laureates and fourteen finalists, who come from thirteen countries across the globe.

A three-day celebration of the awards will be hosted by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal from March 29 onwards. The finalists will perform for a live audience, following which the winners will be announced at the award ceremony on March 31. The winners will share a prize fund of USD 500,000, and will also collaborate with the AKMA to further develop their careers.

The music awards will be conferred in several catagories including  Performance, Creation, Education, Preservation, Revitalisation and Dissemination and others. A special Patron's Award will also be conferred during the ceremony.