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Vas | |
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| Origin | Los Angeles, United States |
| Genres | Tribal fusion, world |
| Years active | 1996–2004 |
| Labels | Narada/MCA Records Narada/Virgin/EMI Records |
| Members | Azam Ali Greg Ellis |
Vas was an alternative world musical group which consisted of Persian vocalist Azam Ali and American percussionist Greg Ellis. Vas is frequently compared to the Australian band Dead Can Dance. The band released four full-length albums, and both artists have released a few solo albums and participated in side projects. After the group's last album, Feast of Silence, Ali and Ellis went their own separate ways.
Azam Ali was born in Iran and moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1985, where she began studying the dulcimer-like santur under the guidance of Manoochehr Sadeghi. Greg Ellis was born and raised in Los Gatos, California, where he first learned to play the drums at age twelve. Ellis moved to Los Angeles in 1984 and started work as a percussionist. The two musicians met at UCLA in 1995 after hearing each other perform; they formed Vas shortly thereafter.
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Cracker is an American rock band, from Bakersfield, California formed in 1990 by lead singer David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman. The band's first album Cracker was released in 1992 on Virgin Records; it included the single "Teen Angst," which went to #1 on the U.S. Modern Rock chart.
Oscar Lopez is a Chilean-Canadian guitarist, whose signature style blends Latin and jazz styles.
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Jesse Arnaud Cook is a Canadian guitarist. He is a Juno Award winner, Acoustic Guitar Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year. He has recorded on the EMI, E1 Music and Narada labels and has sold over 1.5 million records worldwide.
Azam Ali is an Iranian musician. As of 2013, she has released eight full-length albums with the bands VAS and Niyaz, as well as four solo albums.
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Lara & Reyes is an instrumental group founded by Sergio Lara and Joe Reyes in 1989. It performed flamenco-influenced Latin guitar instrumental pieces. Their first album Two Guitars - One Passion released in 1992 under Talking Taco Records Record Label, the album was available only at the duo's concerts and in a limited number of record stores around their home of San Antonio, Texas, later the album was released in 1996 under Higher Octave Music Record Label. By the time Two Guitars - One Passion was released in San Antonio, both Joe Reyes and Sergio Lara were receiving top honors in the San Antonio News's annual media awards. Both have won the acoustic guitar category, for instance, and Sergio's mandolin playing won him a first place award in the miscellaneous instrument category. The two have won the San Antonio Current award as "Best Latin Band" for two years running.
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Niyaz is an Iranian Canadian musical duo. The group was created in 2004 by DJ, programmer/producer and remixer Carmen Rizzo, vocalist and hammered dulcimer player Azam Ali, formerly of the group Vas, and Ali's husband, Loga Ramin Torkian, of the Iranian crossover group Axiom Of Choice. In 2013, Carmen Rizzo announced via Facebook that he was retiring from Niyaz. "Niyaz" means "yearning" in Persian, Urdu and Turkish.
Greg Ellis is an American drummer and percussionist, known for his work in film and world music, living in Los Angeles. He has performed and recorded with artists from almost every continent, including Zakir Hussain, Airto, KODO, Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum, Juno Reactor, Billy Idol, Sonu Nigam, Sussan Deyhim, Hamed Nikpay, Bickram Ghosh, Chiwoniso Maraire, Sugizo and many more.
Luis Villegas is an American guitarist best known for his debut CD Cafe Olé, which mixed new-age music, flamenco, and jazz and garnered a spot on the Grammy ballot for Best New Age Album of the Year in 1999. He is known for using a technique of playing fast, intricate lines by using the fingernail of his right index finger in place of a guitar pick. He also had a small role, as a member of a band, in the film Collateral starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. Currently, he is a member of the group "Heavy Mellow" along with founder Benjamin Woods and percussionist Mike Bennett.
Jason Hann is an American percussionist and DJ.
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Insurge, commonly typeset iNsuRge, were a political industrial rock band founded in 1994 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Chris Dubrow (ex-Soulscraper). Other founders were Mattieu MacRoth on bass guitar, Matt Richmond on drums, Paul Bianco on found Percussion and Monique Wakelin on keyboards. Their debut album Power to the Poison People was released in August 1996, which reached No.16 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Roseland is a musical partnership between Azam Ali and film composer Tyler Bates. It features Azam singing entirely in English against a rock/ambient soundscape that, on several tracks, includes the drumming and percussion of Greg Ellis, who co-founded Vas with Azam Ali back in 1996.
Marc Stewart Danzeisen is an American drummer and musician. He is best known for his work with Riverdogs, Gilby Clarke, Little Caesar, his contributions to Def Leppard, and his appearance in the 1995 film, The Brady Bunch Movie.
Don Heffington was an American drummer, percussionist, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the Los Angeles alternative country band Lone Justice, which he performed with from 1982 to 1985. Heffington was also a member of the bluegrass band Watkins Family Hour, recorded three solo albums, and was a session and touring musician for various artists, including Lowell George, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Victoria Williams, the Wallflowers, the Jayhawks, and Joanna Newsom.
