Polar Music Prize Winner Metallica Donates it’s Prize Money to Afghanistan

Metallica has donated their 1 million Swedish Kronor prize money, awarded last week when they became the 2018 Polar Music Prize Laureate, to three charities. 

50% is given to the Stockholm City Mission, which supports the homeless in Stockholm, 25% to the World Childhood Foundation, founded by HM Queen Silvia of Sweden, and 25% to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, also a recipient of this year’s Polar Music Prize.

Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, founder of Afghanistan’s National Institute of Music,  accepted prestigious Polar Music Prize from the hands of His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a ceremony held at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm on Thursday evening.

The winners of the award were announced in February. The award panel said the Afghan ensemble “revives Afghan music and shows you can transform lives through music.”

Aryana Sayed—Afghanistan’s most loved female pop star, also known as the diva among her fans—performed at the ceremony.