Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born on October 13, 1948 in the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan. He was the fifth child and first son of Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a distinguished and legendary musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and Qawwal. Nusrat's family, which included his four older sisters and his younger brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan grew in central Lyallpur, in a small flat which was rented from a local businessman.
Qawwali is a performance art that has traditionally been passed down within families. Nusrat's family has an unbroken tradition of performing Qawwali for approximately 600 years[Nusrat's father was initially reluctant to allow him to enter the family business, instead hoping his son would become a doctor or an engineer, having felt Qawwals had a low social status. However, Nusrat's enthusiasm for Qawwali eventually persuaded his father to train him in the art. Nusrat began by learning to play tabla alongside his father before progressing to learn Raag Vidya and Bolbandish. He then went on to learn to sing within the classical framework of khayal in the Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana and was taught dhrupad from the Dagar family. Khan's training with his father was cut short when his father died in 1964, leaving Nusrat's paternal uncles, Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, to complete his training.
His first performance was at a traditional graveside ceremony for his father, known as chehlum, which took place forty days after his father's death. In 1971, after the death of Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, Nusrat became the official leader of the family Qawwali party and the party became known as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party. Nusrat assumed leadership of the party, despite the fact that Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan, who was Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan's son, was considerably older than him.
Nusrat's first public performance as the leader of the Qawwali party was at a studio recording broadcast as part of an annual music festival organised by Radio Pakistan, known as Jashn-e-Baharan. Nusrat went on to distinguish himself from other Qawwals and became renowned on the Indian subcontinent and in the Muslim world. He sang mainly in Urdu and Punjabi and occasionally in Persian, Brajbhasha and Hindi. His first major hit in Pakistan was the song Haq Ali Ali, which was performed in a traditional style and with traditional instrumentation. The song featured restrained use of Nusrat's sargam improvisations and attracted a large number of listeners.
Early in his career, Nusrat was signed up by Oriental Star Agencies [OSA] of Birmingham UK to their Star Cassette Label. OSA sponsored regular concert tours by Nusrat to the U.K. from the early '80s onwards, and released much of this live material (albeit not always very well recorded) on cassette, CD, videotape and DVD. The vast majority of Nusrat's qawwali performances that are available today in video format on various labels comes from these OSA-sponsored concert tours.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

. Ali Akbar Khan was born in the village of Shibpur, Comilla, in present-day Bangladesh (then East Bengal), to Baba Allauddin Khan and Madina Begum. Khan began his studies in vocal and instrumental music at very early age under his father.
He also studied drums from his uncle, Fakir Aftabuddin. His father, Allauddin Khan trained him on several instruments, but decided finally that he must concentrate on the sarod. After years of rigorous training he gave his debut performance in his mid-teens. Khan became the court musician of the royal family of Jodhpur at the age of 22.
Ali Akbar Khan performed all over India to great applause and rave critical acclaim, and also traveled the world extensively in the West. In 1956, Khan founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta, with the mission to teach and spread Indian classical music. Two years later, he founded another school of the same name in Berkeley, California; it moved to its present location in San Rafael, California in 1968. Khan has been based in the United States since the foundation of the San Rafael school, although he tours extensively. However, ill health in recent times has curtailed this. In 1985 he founded another branch of the Ali Akbar College of Music in Basel, Switzerland.
He is a past master at outlining a melody with great economy of stroke, which has stood him in good stead in his short 78 rpm records in the middle of the last century. His long concert performances progress from the meditative (alap, jod) to the exhilarating (gat, jhala) in a highly structured build-up in the Senia beenkar style. He is also a fine exponent of "sawal-jawab", a dialogue between two instruments (usually one melodic and one percussion). Of late, ill health has reduced the frequency of his concerts and affected his physical dexterity on his instrument.
Khan has participated in a number of classic jugalbandi pairings, most notably with Ravi Shankar, the late Nikhil Banerjee and the violinist L. Subramaniam. A few recordings of some spectacular duets with Vilayat Khan also exist. He has also collaborated with many well-known Western musicians.

Ustad Aashish Khan

Aashish Khan is a representative of a family of great classical musicians of India. His grandfather Ustad Alauddin Khan, a singular phenomenon in the twentieth century Indian classical music, and founder of the "Senia Maihar Gharana" or "Senia Maihar School" of Indian classical music; was called with reverence as "Baba" (or Father) by his fellow maestros and students. His father Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is a distinguished Sarode player. His aunt Annapurna Devi is a Surbahar player and former wife of sitar legend Ravi Shankar

Ustad Alla Rakha Khan

Alla Rakha was born at Phagwal village, near Jammu, India.
He became fascinated with the sound and rhythm of the tabla at the age of 12, while staying with his uncle in Gurdaspur. The determined young lad ran away from home, became a disciple of and began studying tabla with Mian Kader Baksh of the Punjab Gharana. He studied voice and Raag Vidya under Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan of the Patiala Gharana. His regimen of practice and dedication were legendary: hours upon hours of hard, disciplined practice, that would later pay off.
He was married to Bavi Begum, and has three sons, Zakir Hussain, Fazal Qureshi and Taufiq Qureshi, his daughter Khurshid Aulia nee Qureshi and nine grandchildren.

Ustad Zakir Hussain

Zakir Hussain was a child prodigy, and was touring by the age of twelve. He went to the United States in 1970, embarking on an international career which includes no fewer than 160 concert dates a year.
He has composed and recorded many albums and soundtracks, and has received widespread recognition as a composer for his many ensembles and collaborations.
He received the distinct honor of co-composing the opening music for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 1996. He was commissioned to compose music for Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet, and to compose an original work for the San Francisco Jazz Festival, both in 1998. He has received numerous grants and awards, including participation in the Meet the Composer programs funded by the Pew Memorial Trust and an Izzie (Isadora Duncan Award) for his composition for Lines Ballet. In 2000, Zakir worked again with choreographer Alonzo King, this time composing music for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In 2002, his commissioned work for choreographer Mark Morris’ “Kolam” premiered as part of Yo Yo Ma’s “Silk Road Project” with Yo Yo and Zakir performing together live for the performance. In September 2006, Triple Concerto for Banjo, Bass and Tabla, a piece co-composed by Zakir, Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck, was performed by the trio with the Nashville Symphony at the gala opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall in Nashville. Zakir reunited with choreographer Alonzo King in 2007 for Lines Ballet’s 25th anniversary celebration, creating acclaimed music for King’s new work, Rasa. Also in 2007, the government of India chose Zakir to compose an anthem to celebrate India’s 60th year of independence. The song, “Jai Hind”, has been recorded by an array of India’s finest classical vocalists and pop singers..
He has composed soundtracks for the films In Custody and The Mystic Masseur directed by Ismail Merchant, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha (for which Zakir composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor), Vanaprastham (The Last Dance), chosen to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1999, Saaz, and Everybody Says I'm Fine.
He starred in the Merchant Ivory Film Heat and Dust, in which he also composed the score. He has composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha, and other films.
Zakir is a founding member of Bill Laswell's 'World Music Supergroup' Tabla Beat Science.
He was a visiting professor at Princeton University for one semester in 2006, as well as a visiting professor at Stanford University for a quarter in 2007.
Zakir composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for Vaanaprastham, which took place at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999. He is the recipient of the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States' most prestigious honor for a master in the traditional arts.

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1997. Only two of the founding members are still a part of the lineup: lead vocalist and guitarist Justin Pierre and lead guitarist and backing vocalist Joshua Cain. The band also includes keyboardist and moog synthesist Jesse Johnson, bassist and backing vocalist Matthew Taylor, with drummer, percussionist and backing vocalist Tony Thaxton. Motion City Soundtrack has released three studio albums and sold almost 600,000 records throughout their career, including over half a million in the United States alone. Motion City Soundtrack's first release was a 7" single, "Promenade/Carolina", in 1999. The following year they released their debut EP, Kids for America, and then a second, Back to the Beat. They released debut album I Am the Movie twice, in 2002. Their first five releases were all self-released with the aid of a small record label. Backed up by their constant touring it fashioned them a fast growing fan base, and a signing with Epitaph Records.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

The band wasn't originally planning on releasing albums, appearing only on compilation albums for their first year. In 1995, however, the band began releasing singles named after the singer they had covered. They produced Billy, Diamond, Paul, Denver, Barry, Shannon, Stevens, and Elton in this manner. Their first full-length album, Have a Ball, was released July 29, 1997.
Each album by the band is themed differently: Have a Ball focuses on classic 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s songs by singer/songwriters like Elton John, Neil Diamond, and John Denver; Are a Drag consists entirely of show tunes, Blow in the Wind consists of 60s classics, Take a Break consists entirely of contemporary R&B songs by artists such as Boyz 2 Men, Lionel Richie, and Vanessa L. Williams; their fifth album, Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah, was recorded live at an actual bar mitzvah and consists of pop music from the 1960s through the 1980s by artists such as REO Speedwagon, Styx and The Beatles, as well as traditional songs like "Hava Nagila" and Love Their Country's theme is country and western songs such as The Eagles and Garth Brooks. Their latest record, Have another Ball! has the same theme as their debut which is 60's-80's music.

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte is an American band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. They took their name from the children's book called "Good Charlotte: The Girls of Good Day Orphanage," written by Carol Beach York.
The members of the band are identical twin brothers Joel Madden (lead vocals) and Benji Madden (lead guitar and backing vocals); Billy Martin (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Paul Thomas (bass guitar) and Dean Butterworth (drums)

FALL OUT BOYS

Fall Out Boy is a Grammy-nominated Pop punk band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of Patrick Stump (vocals and guitar), Joe Trohman (guitar and vocals), Pete Wentz (bass guitar and vocals), and Andy Hurley (drums and percussion).
With Pete Wentz as the band's primary lyricist, and Patrick Stump as the primary composer, Fall Out Boy reached mainstream success with its major label debut, From Under the Cork Tree. Released in 2005, the album won several awards and has achieved double platinum status after selling more than 2.5 million albums in the United States alone.

BOYS LIKE GIRLS

Boys Like Girls is a four-piece American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group completed nationwide tours with Cute Is What We Aim For, Hit the Lights and Butch Walker and topped the Top Unsigned Artist chart on PureVolume, within a few months from forming in late 2005. In August 2006 they released their self-titled debut album Boys Like Girls on Columbia Records/Red Ink. They were the co-headliners for the Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour 2008 that recently toured across the U.S. along with Good Charlotte, The Maine, and Metro Station.