 | | Wildly popular in their native Japan, the Yoshida Brothers are virtuosos of the Tsugaru shamisen, a traditional three-string instrument not unlike the banjo, and they've taken the instrument outside the realms of Japanese folk, incorporating elements of pop, smooth jazz, rock and new age styles into their music. |
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 | | The remote region of Tuva, one of the new countries formed with the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., has produced one of the world's most unusual vocal groups, Huun-Huur-Tu. |
 | | The founder of the Arya Tara School, the first school in Nepal to offer traditional Buddhist and secular studies for Buddhist nuns, in 2000, Ani Choying Drolma is known for her command of ancient Tibetan Buddhist chants and songs. |
 | | Kitaro's style is the epitome of the contemplative, highly melodic synthesizer music often associated with the new-age movement. |
 | | No superlative seems too great in describing the success achieved by Ayumi Hamasaki in the decade since her debut in 1998. |
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 | | Albert Kuvezin, at the fore of Tuva's music scene and founding member of group Huun-Huur-Tu, started Yat-Kha in 1991. |
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 | | Led by a pair of multi-instrumentalists, Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah, Temple of Sound mixes exotic world music sounds with modern day dance beats. |
 | | She dominates the charts in Japan whenever she releases a single or album, but to call her a J-pop singer ignores Utada's American roots and her desire to break all the rules of the genre. |
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 | | With her shaved head and seven-octave range, Sainkho Namtchylak would stand out on any stage. Add her particular mix of Tuvan throat-singing and avant-garde improvisation, and she becomes an unforgettable figure. |
 | | Yoko Kanno is the closest person to being the international face of the anime music industry, thanks to her involvement with high-profile projects such as Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell. |
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 | | The Reptile Palace Orchestra is an eclectic worldbeat outfit based in Madison, Wisconsin, and consisting of vocalist/trumpeter/percussionist Anna Purnell, guitarist/vocalist Bill Feeny, cellist/vocalist Seth Blair, string player/vocalist Bill Blumfumgagnge, accordionist/woodwind player Doug Code, and drummer/vocalist Siggi Baldursson (formerly of the Sugarcubes). |
 | | Known primarily as a voice actress for a series of massive anime hits in Japan, Aya Hirano carved out a small side career as a singer, as many successful voice actresses have. |
 | | One of the top J-rock bands of the mid-2000s, Orange Range achieved fame and multiple animé credits invitations due to their ability to carefully interlace heavy riffs and commercial hip-hop elements in their predominantly pop/rock songs. |
 | | Cirque du Soleil revolutionized the circus arts, transcending the traditional big-top approach of the past to spotlight elaborate sets, lavish costume, and original music. |
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 | | Yoko Ishida is a Japanese singer who made a career singing theme songs for anime series and branched out into proper J-pop in the mid-2000s. |
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 | | The Gipsy Kings are largely responsible for bringing the joyful sounds of progressive pop-oriented flamenco to the world. |
 | | Rabindra Shankar Chowdery, aka Ravi Shankar, was born on April 7, 1920, in Varanasi, India, into a well-off orthodox Brahmin family. |
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 | | Asian Kung-Fu Generation are one of the most successful indie rock bands of Japan ("indie" standing for the genre, not the recording label), with their Weezer/punk tinged sound enjoying a popularity that even Weezer themselves hardly ever had on their side of the Pacific. |
 | | Lo'Jo are as much about an idea as the music they make. The band, founded in 1982 in the small French town of Angers by singer/keyboardist Denis Péan, they've been involved in multimedia shows, circuses, politics, and even hosted a festival in the Malian desert; not your basic group, by any means. |
 | | Before they perfected the electronica-meets-tango sound of the Gotan Project, Paris musicians Philippe Cohen Solal and Christoph H. |
 | | Yui's rise to Japanese stardom is as simple in retelling as it was difficult in execution, deserving a manga adaptation or a movie of its own. |
 | | Namie Amuro is Japanese pop's most resilient idol. Debuting in 1992 with the all-girl five-piece Super Monkey's, where she first caught the attention of Tetsuya Komuro, the producer/songwriter who would go on to shape her early career, Amuro has bounced back from hurdles that have felled lesser J-pop idols (namely raising a family and divorce) to remain on top. |
 | | Born on February 15, 1978 in Seoul, South Korea, pianist Yiruma (real name: I Ru-ma) has released a string of successful albums in the 2000s and managed to land a number one hit with his composition "River Flows in You. |
 | | With roots in jazz and classic R&B and music employing touches of techno, the Japanese pop/rockers Dreams Come True became one of the country's biggest stars in the '90s, when they sold most of the total 50 million units they shifted during their career. |
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 | | Kuniyoshi Sugawara started his studies of the Shakuhachi at 12 years old in his native island of Hokkaïdo. |
 | | The traditional music of Western Africa and Ireland is fused into a seamless blend by Afro Celt Sound System. |
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 | | The southwestern Japanese island of Okinawa, a humid and mountainous region situated between the Pacific Ocean and the East China Sea, is home to well over a million people. |
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 | | The collected musical activities of this great Vietnamese artist would have kept busy all five generations of musicians preceding him in his family. |
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 | | A French-named yet Japanese rock act, L'Arc-en-Ciel came together in 1991, formed by bassist Tetsuya Ogawa. |
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![Tsutsumi [Japan CD] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/928414/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "Tsutsumi [Japan CD] Album Cover")
