Zohreh Jooya
grew up in Mashhad Iran, not far from the Afghanistan border in a mixed Afghan Persian traditional family. She studied at the University of Arts in Vienna and finished with a master’s degree in classical singing of the Conservatoire of the City of Vienna. The oriental as well as the European cultures enclose her carrier. On the European side she toured in title rolls at various opera productions in many European countries and appeared at numerous TV shows. On the oriental side she interprets traditional music of Afghanistan and Iran new. Her songs on the albums "Songs from Afghanistan", "Persian Nights" and "Music of the Persian Mystics" published by ARC are typical examples of her style. For the Afghans and Persians living in the Diaspora Taraneh International has produced "Safar be Persia", "Tshohar e Eshgh" and "Taranehye Afghanestan". Her interpretations of the poetry of the mystic Nezami are to be heard on the CDs of Parviz Mamnun.

Ustad Sageer Khan
At the age of 4 he started vocal training with his father Ustad Munir Khan and learned Tabla with Ustad Faiyyaz Khan. When he was eight he decided to change to Sitar and came under the guidance of Ustad Zamir Ahmed Khan. During his studies he always continued to train ragas and vocal khayals. With 16 he gave his first public Sitar concert and then went for a concert tour to Holland. 1980 he again toured in Europe with his brother Ustad Zamir Ahmed Khan earning high praise from critics and finally decided to stay in Italy where he opened several schools for Indian music. He regularly tours worldwide. Sageer has created a unique style. Playing Sitar together with singing is a revolutionary change of this instrument. His performances comprise difficult tans (fast runs), spiritual depth of Ragas and the dazzling brilliance of Thumaries (light classical love songs). His unique style and technique of playing Sitar opened a brilliant future for this instrument.

Sobeir Bachtiar
visited the Austrian music school in Kabul and got a scholarship to study at the University of Performing Arts in Vienna. He graduated with master certificates in classical trumpet and composition. He then studied singing and made his living as a soloist and music teacher for western classical music. After his studies in Vienna he turned himself more and more towards the music of his native country and Indian classical music and learned robab with Ustad Zardosai. He gave numerous concerts with trumpet and Robab in whole Europe and the USA. His main focus in music is Afghan and Indian traditional music. His personal credo is the way of a Sufi and Yogi and to be a keeper of the culture of his crises shaken home land. He founded together with Zohreh Jooya the “Ensemble Afghan” in 2001. He is blessed with the rare gift of an absolute hearing and shows this in the accuracy how he plays and hence requests this from the other members of the ensemble as well.

 

Athar Torabi
Earned a Faculty of Arts degree in music from Teheran University, and holds a graduate degree from the University in Paris Sorbonne as well. Furthermore, he graduated in musicology and ethnomusicology and pursues studies of Indian music with master Pandit Ram Narayan. He has given many performances of Persian classical music on the kamansheh, violin and setar all over Europe, India and central Africa. He presented his music at the UNESCO conference and participated in several festivals in France. As a composer he prefers to work on the interface of cultures. In particular the Indian and Persian culture having common roots are his focus. He also works to bring the old Zaraostrian texts to life again in musical form.

 

Rashmi V. Bhatt
Born in Gujarat, India, he learned the Tabla under the guidance of Shri Torun Banerjee. Later he attended a music school in south of India where he later also performed with several well-known artists. After completing his University studies in India, he performs all over Europe, accompanying wonderful musicians like S. Shankar and Krishna Bhatt on Sitar, masters of the Saroud like D. Ghosh and K. Shridhar, the Veena player Vemu Mukunda and has collaborated with the kings of percuccion Zakir Hussein and Trilok Gurtu. For the Indian cultural events he is in constant collaboration with the Embassy of India in Rome. He gives seminars and workshops on Indian Music in Conservatories. He also collaborates with the National TV of Italy, Denmark and India. In the recent Festival of World Music in Bari called he accompanied the famous singer of Qawali from Pakistan Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He hasalso accompanied the master of the sitar and musicologist Pandit A. Parikh from Bombay and the greatest Indian flutist Pandit H.P. Chaurasia. Rashmi is fascinated by the fusion of musical languages and ethnic groups