Kioomars Musayyebi was born in 1977 in Tehran. He learnt to play the santoor under the tutelage of the prominent santoor master, Faramarz Payevar. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in instrumental music. He completed his Masters at the Centre for World Music in Hildesheim. Kioomars is active as a freelance teacher. As a composer he combines Persian music and Jazz arrangements to create a new sound and is a regular member of the Transorient Orchestra since 2013. In 2015 he formed the Kioomars Musayebbi Quartet along with musicians from Germany. He has performed at many festivals such as the Fadjr Festival, Folk’n’Fusion Festival, at the Essen original and Creole Wettbewerb NRW 2017.

Hindol Deb, the Indian sitar player and composer, has explored the possibilities of the crossover of Indian music with other genres such as contemporary western classical, jazz, flamenco, Nordic folklore and Balkan music. Hindol was invited by the Academy of Carnegie Hall, the French Ministry of Culture and ETHNO Sweden as Artist in Residence to work with musicians there. He also had the honor and privilege of playing for Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama. Hindol currently lives in Cologne and is working on compositions for a crossover jazz project. He has conducted workshops at the Elbphilharmonie, the University of Music and Dance in Cologne, the Pop Akademie Mannheim.