persian

Bappa Majumdar needs no introduction to music aficionados in Bangladesh. Son of noted musician Barin Majumdar, Bappa has attained popularity as a singer as well as a music composer. About his background, Bappa says, "I took a five-year course in classical music at Monihar Sangeet Academy (a music school established by Barin Majumdar). However, I don't feel my training in classical music is adequate and that's why I haven't pursued that genre of music." Bappa's band, 'Dalchhut' was formed in '96.

Shadmehr Aghili ( born 1973) is an Iranian musician, singer and songwriter born in Tehran. Shadmehr's father, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, died when Shadmehr was only a young student. Young Shadmehr began studying music with the encouragement of his brother and mother. He learned to play the piano and the violin just before he was 12 years old. The guitar is also an instrument which Shadmehr learned to play in a dexterous manner. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, he entered a school of arts in Tehran and in a short time showed great intelligence in composing and playing music.

Madjid Khaladj was born in Ghazvin (Iran) in 1962. At the age of seven, he started studying the tombak with masters Maleki and Badjalan. Through them he inherited the teachings of master Hossein Tehrani, to whom we owe the renaissance of the tombak in Iran. He has been living in Paris since 1984 and he has been invited to teach the tombak at the "Centre l'Etudes de Musiques Orientales, Institute de Musicologie, Paris-Sorbonne". He has introduced the tombak to numerous western percussionists. He is also the founder of the Tombak school for the study of Iranian percussion.

Ilham al Madfai (Arabic: ????? ???????) is an Iraqi guitarist, singer, and composer. His musical talent began to develop seriously when he was twelve years old. He started as, and still is, a guitarist at heart. His musical career formally started when he formed his first band, the Twisters, in the 1960s. They were the first band in Iraq, and probably the Arab world, that used modern instruments to play Arabic music (guitar, drums, bass, & piano).