The Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA) was established in 2000 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) to help ensure the preservation of Central Asia’s musical heritage and its transmission to a new generation of artists and audiences, as well as to increase visibility and understanding of the region’s unique musical traditions beyond its borders. The Music Initiative embodies His Highness the Aga Khan’s recognition of music’s vital role in the cultures of Central Eurasia and the Middle East. In these regions, music traditionally has served not only as entertainment, but as a form of symbolic knowledge that expresses the moral values and power of the spirit at the very centre of the great civilisations.