Aga Khan Music Awards announce three Pakistani nominees

The finalists for the Aga Khan Music Awards (AKMA) 2025 have been announced. The global list includes three Pakistanis: Juman Latif, Ustad Noor Bakhsh, and Ustad Naseeruddin Saami. 

The nominees are each maestros in their own fields. 

The first nominee, Ustaad Naseeruddin Saami is a classical singer. He is one of the world’s most revered living masters of Khayal, the oldest form of classical South Asian singing, rooted in the Delhi Gharana musical tradition.

Similarly, Juman Latif is a 48-year-old Sufi singer who has been teaching and singing Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s raag outside Bhitai’s shrine for around 32 years. He teaches the raag at two schools, supervises the same tradition at the shrine and in between takes care of his family and goes across the world to spread Bhitai’s message of love and peace.

Ustad Noor Baksh has also been playing the Benju since he was a child but gained fame as a soloist in 2022. His work is deeply rooted in Balochi musical forms but enriched by his knowledge of South Asian Ragas, which he also renders in his own, experimental style. He also renders popular and folk tunes in all the major languages spoken across Pakistan. 

This year’s winners selected by the Awards Master Jury will be announced on November 4 and honoured at an award ceremony on November 22 at London’s Southbank Centre. The ceremony will be the centrepiece of four days of events from November 20 to 23.

The winners will share a prize fund of $500,000 and gain access to professional opportunities such as commissions, recordings, management contracts, and support for educational and preservation initiatives.

The Aga Khan Music Awards were established by His Late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV in 2018. The Awards recognise and support exceptional creativity, promise, and enterprise in music performance, creation, education, preservation and revitalisation in societies across the world in which Muslims have a significant presence.