Vas was an alternative world musical group which consisted of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

vocalist

Azam Ali Azam Ali ( fa, اعظم علی) 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. Biography She was born in Tehran on 3 October 1970, Ali spent most of her ...

and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

percussionist Greg Ellis. Vas is frequently compared to the Australian band

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...

. 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 Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, in 1985, where she began studying the

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

-like

santur The santur (also ''santūr'', ''santour'', ''santoor'') ( fa, سنتور), is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origins.--- Rashid, Subhi Anwar (1989). ''Al-ʼĀlāt al-musīqīyya al-muṣāhiba lil-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī''. Baghdad: Matbaʻat al-ʻU ...

under the guidance of

Manoochehr Sadeghi Manoochehr Sadeghi (born April 13, 1938) is a Persian-American naturalized citizen, born in Tehran, Iran. He is considered a Grandmaster or Ostad of the santur, a Persian hammered dulcimer. He has been lecturing, teaching, recording and ...

. Greg Ellis was born and raised in

Los Gatos Los Gatos (, ; ) is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located in the San Franci ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, 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 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1995 after hearing each other perform; they formed Vas shortly thereafter.

List of band members

(1995–2004) --

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, drums * Greg Ellis (1995–2004) --

udu The udu is a plosive aerophone (in this case implosive) and an idiophone of the Igbo people, Igbo of Nigeria. In the Igbo language, ''ùdù'' means 'vessel'. Actually being a water jug with an additional hole, it was played by Igbo women for ce ...

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

dumbek The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...

, nagara,

cymbals A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

, bells, drums,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Cameron Stone (2000) --

on ''In the Garden of Souls''

Discography

Albums

* ''Sunyata'' Narada World/MCA (1997) * ''Offerings'' Narada World/Virgin/EMI (1998) * ''In the Garden of Souls'' Narada World/Virgin/EMI (2000) * ''Feast of Silence'' Narada World/Virgin/EMI (2004)

Compilation appearances

* Refuge on ''Earthdance'' 2CD (1998) * The Reaper and the Flowers on ''Asleep By Dawn Issue Two'' (2004) * ''The Next Generation - Narada Sampler'' * ''Narada Film and Television Music Sampler''

Side projects

Niyaz Niyaz ( fa, نياز) 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 Ra ...

(

, Loga Torkian) * Roseland (Azam Ali,

Tyler Bates Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Ha ...

, Greg Ellis)

External links

Vas discography on Discogs

Vas on MySpace
{{Authority control Narada Productions artists American world music groups Musical groups established in 1996 American musical duos