2016 in Asian music

Events

March 29 – The ISCM World Music Days, 2016, festival opens in Tongyeong, South Korea.
April 26 – The ABU Radio Song Festival 2016 takes place in Beijing, China, with fourteen countries participating.
May 13 – The Borneo Jazz Festival opens in Miri, Sarawak.
June 22 – Pakistani singer Amjad Sabri appears on a morning TV show in Karachi. On his way home, his car is fired on by two motorcyclists, fatally injuring Sabri. The killing was claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban who accused Sabri of blasphemy.
September 10 – Ah Ruem Ahn of South Korea wins the 15th International Grieg Piano Competition.
September 10–11 – Ultra Singapore took place.
October 22 – The ABU TV Song Festival 2016 took place in Bali.
December – The Turkvision Song Contest took place in Istanbul, Turkey.

Albums

Classical

Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol – ''Harabat / The Intoxicated'''

Opera

Du Yun and Royce Vavrek – ''Angel's Bone''

Deaths

January 7 – Houshang Ostovar, 88, Iranian composer
January 9 – Cielito del Mundo, 80, Filipino singer, actress and politician
January 27 – Georgy Firtich, 77, Russian composer and pianist
February 9 – Quan Minyu, 12, Chinese singer
February 18 – Abdul Rashid Khan, 107, Hindustani musician
March 6 – Kalabhavan Mani, 45, Indian actor and singer
March 17 – Trần Lập, 42, Vietnamese rock singer
March 18 – Adnan Abu Hassan, 57, Malaysian composer
March 23 – Gegham Grigoryan, Armenian opera singer, 65
May 2 – Balwantrai Bhatt, 94, Indian composer and musician
May 5 – Isao Tomita, 84, Japanese synthesizer musician, composer and arranger
June 7 – Amber Gurung, 78, Nepalese composer, singer, and lyricist
June 10 – Habib, 63, Iranian singer
June 22 – Amjad Sabri, 45, Pakistani qawwali singer
July 7 – Om Prakash Sonik, 77, Indian composer
July 30 – Mike Mohede, 33, Indonesian singer
November 3 – W. D. Amaradeva, 88, Sri Lankan violinist, singer and composer