Tuesday 11 / November / 2025
Muscat: The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Arab Music Academy, which is affiliated with the Arab League, to enhance and develop cultural cooperation between the two sides in the fields of music, singing, and folk arts.
The agreement was signed on behalf of the Ministry by Sayyid Said bin Sultan Al Busaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for Culture, and on behalf of the Arab Music Academy by Dr. Kifah Fakhoury, the Academy's Secretary-General.
The MoU included cooperation in organizing music festivals and events, artistic forums and programs serving interested parties, and establishing musical bands and music libraries. It also covers the exchange of experts and artists, and the exchange of artistic, scientific, audio, and visual publications and releases, contributing to the enrichment of the Arab cultural scene and the development of creative industries. In addition to encouraging joint artistic production between the Sultanate of Oman and Arab countries using Omani folk arts as musical and vocal works suitable for presentation.
Dr. Ines Abdel-Dayem, President of the Arab Music Academy, stated that the ongoing cooperation between the Sultanate of Oman and the Academy is considered a model of constructive interactive cooperation that benefits both parties and simultaneously serves the issues of Arab music and its civilizational message. She noted that it contributes to preserving the rich and diverse Arab musical heritage, ensuring its survival in the memory of future generations to inspire new creations from this authentic heritage.
She added that this distinguished cooperation has yielded several significant achievements, most notably: The Academy's nomination of the Oman Centre for Traditional Music, which led to it being awarded the International Music Council Prize in 2002; The Oman Centre for Traditional Music being awarded the Arab Music Academy Prize for the category of musical groups and institutions in 2005; The Omani artist Amir Awadh winning the Arab Music Composition Competition organised by the Academy in 2023 and the appointment of Ru'a Al Lamki, the Sultanate of Oman's representative to the Academy, as Head of the Folk Musical Heritage Committee for four years.
It is noteworthy that during the signing of the agreement, the book "Folk Musical Arts in the Arab Countries and the Risk of Their Extinction" was inaugurated, which comprises 16 research papers presented at the scientific symposium held during the 27th session of the Arab Music Academy General Conference, hosted by the Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, from 13-15 March 2023.
