Jorge Lechuga
Jorge Lechuga is the founder and lead singer of the Wildhorse Singers and Dancers, a Native American northern traditional pow wow ensemble that performs and tours throughout Southern California, the United States and internationally. Mr. Lechuga began singing and playing the traditional Native American drum over 25 years ago with the help of other community […]
Sophiline Cheam Shapiro
Sophiline Cheam Shapiro received a Diploma of Arts in classical dance from the University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 1988, and served on the faculty there for three years before immigrating to the United States in 1991. She is among a small number of artists who survived the purges of the Khmer [...] Ian Whitelaw
Ian Whitelaw plays the Great Highland Bagpipe, an instrument deeply embedded in Scottish culture. His teachers include Andrew Wright, president of the Piobaireachd Society, and Robert Nicol, former piper to King George VI. Whitelaw has performed for many film and television programs, and has performed with the Chieftains at the Hollywood Bowl, at the Mormon [...] Tom Sauber
Tom Sauber is a multi-instrumentalist and singer who is teaching traditional Southern fiddle. In the 45 years that Mr. Sauber has devoted to playing traditional music, he has performed with extraordinary musicians in old-time, bluegrass and Cajun music. He is particularly known for his long-time partnerships with Oklahoma fiddler Earl Collins and North Carolina banjo […]
Francisco Aguabella
Francisco Aguabella is one of the world’s most respected drummers. Born in Matanzas-Cuba, an area well-known for the richness of its African traditions, Aguabella immigrated to the U.S. in 1957. He is recognized as a high priest of the religious Afro-Cuban bata percussion, which has its roots among the Yoruba people of West Africa. He […]
Sergio “Checo” Alonso
Sergio "Checo" Alonso is a master of the Mexican folk harp traditions from the southern coast of Veracruz and the western states of Jalisco and Michoacan, the jarocho and mariachi traditions, respectively. Alonso began studying and researching Mexican folk music in 1993 in the ethnomusicology department at UCLA, studying with Jesus Guzman of Mariachi Los [...] Tzvetanka Varimezova
Tzvetanka Varimezova was born in Bulgaria and received a B.A. degree in choral conducting and folk instrument pedagogy from the Academy of Music and Dance in Plovdiv. She was a soloist and assistant choral director for a number of professional women's choirs in Sofia, including the Bulgarian National Ensemble of Folk Song and Dance. Ms. [...] Pejman Hadadi
Pejman Hadadi is a virtuoso Iranian tombak and daf (frame drum) player who has been hailed as “the finest Iranian percussionist living in the West” (KPFA Radio, Berkeley, CA). Hadadi began playing tombak at the age of ten under the masters of the instrument Asadollah Hejazi and Bahman Rajabi. In 1990, upon immigrating to the […]
Mehrdad Arabi
Mehrdad Arabi plays and teaches the kamanche, the chief bowed instrument in Persian classical and folk music dating back to antiquity. A very popular instrument, the kamanche is almost always present in the make-up of all sizes of classical Persian ensembles. Arabi has been playing his instrument for more than 25 years. He studied the […]
Ian Whitelaw
Ian Whitelaw plays the Great Highland bagpipe, an instrument deeply embedded in Scottish culture. His teachers include Andrew Wright, president of the Piobaireachd Society, and Robert Nicol, former piper to King George VI. Mr. Whitelaw has performed for many film and television programs, and has performed at the Mormon Tabernacle, at The Universal Amphitheatre with […]