Heni Savitri began to study sindhènan (Javanese singing with gamelan) in 2002. In 2003 she won the competition for best singer in her native district of Wonogiri, Central Java. She entered the Performing Arts Conservatory in Surakarta in 2004 and began representing the institution in competitions the following year, as well as performing in shadow plays.

Scott Linford is a music scholar, filmmaker, and musician who has conducted research in West Africa, Central America, and the United States. His primary research interests include participation and musical experience, identity and belonging, agriculture and the environment, musical repatriation, and colonial and post-colonial politics. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he holds a master of arts degree and Ph.D.

After coming to the United States over two decades ago, Rita Sahai continued her extensive music studies under the world famous sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, who passed away in 2009. Impressed by her talent and passion toward music, “Khansahib,” as she affectionately called her guru, gave her the title Gayan Alankar (Jewel of Music).

Sahai, an acclaimed composer, performer, and teacher, tours throughout the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and India. She is also in demand at recording studios at home and abroad, where she graciously lends her voice to many diverse musical projects, including contributing vocal tracks for Grammy Award-winning artist Béla Fleck and performing on Alonzo King’s Sacred Texts, a CD of international music that won the Isadora Duncan Award for music excellence. She has also collaborated on several live musical productions with Jennifer Berezan’s “Edge of Wonder” project.