BAHRAM BERDIKOR
Bahram Berdikor was born in 1956 and has been playing kamancheh for over forty years. He was first introduced to the Kamancheh by a carpenter and builder of Turkoman instruments. Subsequently, he perfected his art under masters of Turkoman music, such as the late Nazarli Mahjoubi and the late Qazaq-Pang. He currently resides in Turkoman Port and is known as one of the most skilled Kamancheh players in Turkoman Sahara.

YEREVAND DAVOUDIAN
Yerevand Davoudian is an Armenian Christian born in 1927 in Gordabad in the suburbs of Orumiyeh in western Azerbaijan. Kamancheh music is gradually disappearing in western Azerbaijan, and Davoudian is one of the last vestiges of this art in the area. His father was an outstanding player of the kamancheh and the dohol, and Davoudian started learning both instruments from him at the age of seven.

In addition to Armenian music, Davoudian is also familiar with Assyrian and Turkish music. He is considered one of the last surviving performers among the Iranian Armenian Asheqs. Today, there are only four performers of original ethnic Armenian music in western Azerbaijan, and Davoudian is the oldest and most experienced among them.

REZA DERAKSHANI
Reza Derakshani was born in 1952 in Sangsar, Iran. He is a vocalist and virtuoso of several Persian instruments, including tar, setar, ney, kamancheh, and guitar. Infused with an Eastern sensibility and employing Eastern instrumentation, Derakshani's music is seductive yet devotional. He combines elements of ancient Persian and contemporary musical approaches, as well as World Music from Morocco, Africa and India; and Western jazz, rock, and classical music to create new sounds that bridge these diverse cultures. Derakshani has performed with musicians such as John Densmore of the Doors, David Darling, Brandford Marsalis, Madonna, Clara Ponti, and Steve Shehan (percussionist for Paul Simon) among others. He composed the main theme for Butimar Productions' Koffar documentary and is currently working on arranging the soundtrack for the film.

KAYHAN KALHOR
Kayhan Kalhor was born in Tehran in 1963. At the age of seven, he began his music studies under Master Ahmad Mohajer. A child prodigy on the kamancheh, he was invited at the age of thirteen to work in the National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran, where he performed for five years. At seventeen, Kalhor began working with the Shayda Ensemble of the Chavosh Cultural Center, the most prestigious organization for arts at the time. While performing with Shayda, he continued his studies of Persian classical repertoire (the radif) with different masters. In addition, he spent much time in different regions of Iran, including Khorasan in the northeast and Kurdistan in the west, and absorbed regional repertoires and styles. He studied Western classical music in Rome and at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where he received a degree in music. He has composed works for Iran's most renowned vocalists, including M. R. Shajarian and S. Nazeri, and he has performed with Iran's greatest masters, including Faramarz Payvar and Hossein Alizadeh. In 1991 he cofounded Dastan, the renowned Persian classical music ensemble, and in 1997 he formed the ensemble Ghazal, which performs improvisations based on Persian and Indian music. His recent commissions include works written for the Kronos Quartet and for Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, which has toured around the world. He has several recordings available, including "Shab, Sokout, Kevir" ("Night, Silence, Desert"), Ghazal's " Silk Road" series, and "Scattering Stars Like Dust."

WALI RAHIMI
Born in 1932 in Ashkhaneh, Bojnourd, in northern Khorasan, Wali Rahimi is a renowned Kurdish (Kurmanj) kamancheh player and singer. He is from the Asheq tribes, and music and performance is customary in his family.

Rahimi has his own style in performance, and his renditions of Kuroghli and Lou are outstanding. He is one of the handful of surviving kamancheh players among the Kurdish Asheqs in northern Khorasan.

TAQI SHEKARCHIAN
Taqi Shekarchian is over sixty years old, was born in Gedarkhel in the suburbs of Behshahr, and is living in Godar Tappeh in Farrash-Mahalleh. He is a renowned performer with his own style in eastern Mazandaran and is from the Godar tribe. Godars are migrant nomads from the Luliani branch who, in ancient times, migrated from India to central and western Asia and even as far as Europe. Music is customary and hereditary in their families. Shekarchian, like his ancestors, inherited the oral tradition of the kamancheh and studied under the late Qadar Atwali (Katwali), the most famous contemporary kamancheh player in eastern Mazandaran. Therefore, he is an avid follower of his master's techniques, including the extensive use of the first string on the instrument.

Shekarchian is a masterful performer of eastern Mazandaran modes and melodies such as Katwali, Kel-Hal, Mioun Katwali, Dashti-Hal, Sema'i, Arous Yar, Shar-o-Shour, Raqsi, and Rewouni.