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Faiz Ali Faiz

Faiz Ali Faiz (born 1962 in Sharaqpur, Pakistan) is one of the main singers of qawwali, a devotional musical expression of the Sufis, a mystical offshoot of Islam. Faiz Ali Faiz comes from a family of qawwals from seven generations in Pakistan. He started his professional career in 1978, at age 16, creating at the same time his own qawwali ensemble. Though Faiz is from Lahore, he practices the doaba style from eastern Pakistan. He stated in recent interviews he has been influenced by Sham-Chaurasi, a famous Khayal singing school where Ustad Salamat Ali Khan belongs to.

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The Crooked Fiddle Band

The Crooked Fiddle Band are a four-piece from Sydney, Australia who formed in late 2006. acoustic and mainly instrumental, tCFB are influenced by / include Eastern European, Celtic and USA traditional material in their punked up compositions. Instrumentation includes violin, double bass, drum kit, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, charango, hand percussion, cello. Free downloads are available from the Triple J Unearthed site and their Myspace. Links for buying their music are available through their official website: http://www.crookedfiddleband.com.

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Ana Moura

Portuguese vocalist Ana Moura, whose soulful and riveting interpretation of her land's captivating fado style has made her a star in Europe. Ana Moura has become a leading exponent of this poetic, deeply expressive idiom which personifies the Portuguese psyche as it explores such universal themes as lost love, separation, and longing. As Ana explains, "It's very special because it's all about emotions and feelings. It needs no translation."

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Ganga Giri

Ganga Giri mixes red natural elements with fat tribal beats and dirty funky bass lines to create a unique tribal-technological deep earth dance experience. Explosive and pulsating, at times ambient and flowing, the music is a pumping percussive multi-layered experience of complex grooves and raw, deep natural sound. Ganga himself is a rhythmic didjeridu virtuoso and percussionist -- an inspired music creator whose passion brings people together in celebration of nowness in newness, a modern day corroboree for all!

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Kodo

<a href="http://www.last.fm/music/%E9%BC%93%E7%AB%A5" class="bbcode_artist">鼓童</a> (Kodō) is one of the elite taiko drumming groups today. Based in Sado Island, Japan, they have been a major force in the post-World War II revitalization of taiko drumming, both in Japan and abroad. They regularly tour Japan and the United States. Although the main focus of the performance is taiko drumming, other traditional Japanese musical instruments such as fue and shamisen make an appearance on stage as do traditional dance and vocal performance.

Gurrumul

A former member of Australian band Yothu Yindi, Gurrumul was born blind and sings mostly in his traditional language. Gurrumul plays the guitar upside down because there were no left handed guitars in the communities he grew up in. Gurrumul's story will inspire many. But his voice is what will cut through and if it lands on enough ears, his debut album 'Gurrumul' available on Skinnyfish Music could prove to be a landmark Australian release.

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Orkestra del Sol

"The swagger of a Balkan wedding band with the riotous energy of a Latin carnival." Based in Scotland, but taking in musical influences from far and wide, Orkestra del Sol inflect their music with a raucous enthusiasm. Blending the best of brass with the swinging sounds of samba, New Orleans street music or the rolling rhythms of Turkey and the Middle East, they charge through it all with full-blooded rock and roll speed. They make mincemeat of musical categories.

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Te Vaka

Te Vaka is a unique group of ten musicians and dancers from Tokelau, Tuvalu, Samoa, Cook Islands, and New Zealand brought together under the inspired leadership of Opetaia Foa'i. They have been wowing international audiences since 1997, presenting a rich, luscious mix of Polynesia's ancient culture, to the modern world and in 2008 won the “Best Pacific Group” award. The language they sing in is usually Tokelau but more recently they have been singing in Samoan and Tuvaluan too.

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Raghu Dixit

The Raghu Dixit Project is an open house for musicians, dancers, poets, lyricists and artistes from different genres to come together, collaborate and create a dynamic sound and expression. The Raghu Dixit Project has a constantly evolving sound due to the different musicians collaborating with Raghu Dixit. The Raghu Dixit Project just released its debut self titled album through Vishal Shekhar Music & Counter Culture Records and the album is out in stores currently. www.raghudixit.com

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Nitin Sawhney

Nitin Sawhney (raised in Rochester, Kent, England) is a london-based composer and dj of various styles of music, including jazz, drum and bass, hip-hop, flamenco and modern orchestral compositions. His major works include Beyond Skin, Prophesy, Human, and Philtre. He is considered one of the pioneers of what is known as the Asian Underground music scene, defining a music genre that mixes south-asian musical influences with western electronica and breakbeat style. He does however dislike the tag of "world" music, describing it as musical apartheid.

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