Sunday 24 / November / 2024
Muscat: The Aga Khan Award for Music (2020-2022) kicked off at the House of Musical Arts in the Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM).
The award giving ceremony is hosted by Oman during the period from 28 to 31 October 2022.
The ceremony was held under the auspices of HH Sayyid Kamil bin Fahd Al Said, Secretary General at the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers.
The ceremony included a number of segments, namely an introduction presented by Dr. Fairouz Nishanova, Director of the Aga Khan Music Program (AKMP).
Three films were showcased to highlight the journey of some winners and their service to music regionally and internationally. Those include Musallam Al Kathiri and India’s Zakir Hussain. In addition, musical performances were given by Dilshad Khan from India, Zarsanga from Pakistan, Yahya Hussein Abdullah from Tanzania, Sain Zahoor from Pakistan and Afel Bocoum from Mali.
Jamal Hassan Al Moussawi delivered the speech of the Sultanate of Oman during which he said that Oman is exerting efforts in making culture a common denominator among peoples by introducing the world to its cultural richness through various activities.
He added that Oman's hosting of the second cycle of the Aga Khan Award for Music comes within the framework of building bridges of communication between various peoples of the world and enhancing joint cooperation by activating cultural communication channels at all official and societal levels.
On His turn, Amyn Aga Khan said: “Our gathering here in the magnificent Royal Opera House is a deeply symbolic one, for it celebrates not only inspiring artistic and scholarly creativity, but also the resilience of music and musicians in challenging times. It is most fitting indeed that we are marking this happy occasion in the Sultanate of Oman, a country in which the central place of the arts is sacrosanct and the meeting of the performing arts from both Eastern and Western cultures is enshrined in this remarkable architectural complex in which we are gathered.
“The great medieval Arab philosophers, many of whom were also music theorists and even talented musicians, had a profound understanding of the power of sound to affect the human psyche and emotions. We are the heirs of their knowledge, and we are reaffirming that here this evening through the act of gathering together to experience collectively the power of live sound, beautifully crafted and shaped, on our emotions, on our dreams.
“Two and a half years ago, when I had the privilege of speaking at the inaugural Music Awards ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, I noted that it was our wish and our aspiration that the AgaKhan Music Awards should serve as a catalyst for future projects that draw on the rich tapestry of Muslim musical heritage while reaching across the boundaries of time, place, and culture, assimilating the traditions and characteristics of other heritages to create a pluralistic sound that could currently be global.”
Meanwhile, Omani musician Musallam Ahmed Al Kathiri was also honored by receiving the Aga Khan special award for music in recognition for his contributions to the preservation and promotion of Omani musical heritage.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to India's Zakir Hussain, in recognition of his outstanding model of cross-cultural music through his collaborations, concert tours, commissions, recordings and dozens of films.
The Aga Khan Award for Music was established in 2018 and is held every three years to celebrate exceptional and promising talents, as well as specialized projects in all fields of music—right from performance to innovation and education, with the overall goal of preserving and reviving musical traditions in societies where Muslims have a large presence around the world.
The Aga Khan Music Programme consists of four interrelated areas: “education and orientation”, “creativity and performance”, “production, documentation and publishing” and “online projects and digital archives”.
In a bid to realizing the 11 strategic objectives, Oman’s hosting the event reflects its cultural diversity and its openness to global transformations in accordance with its economic, social, political and cultural texture.
The event also indicates harmony with the objectives of national, regional and international strategies through which Oman hopes to enrich its cultural strategy that stems from creativity, cultural development and creative cultural applications, to name a few.
