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Sam-Ang Sam was born January 8, 1950, in Krakor, Pursat, Cambodia. He had had no formal music training before he entered the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh at the age of 13, graduating with a Diplôme des Arts in 1970 and a Baccalauréat des Arts in 1973. Although he began to study music composition and ethnomusicology in 1974 at the University of the Philippines, the latter field under Ramon Santos and José Maceda, he earned both BA and MA degrees in Composition at Connecticut College, under Chinary Ung among others. After earning the PhD in Ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University in 1991, he taught at the University of Washington, was director of the Cambodian Network Council in Washington, DC, and in 1994 received a five-year McArthur Fellowship which supported his teaching post at Phnom Penh's restored Royal University of Fine Arts. In 1998 he was awarded a National Heritage Award by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Besides being an ethnomusicologist specializing in the music of his native Cambodia, Sam is an active performer of Cambodian classical music; his major instruments are the khloy (bamboo flute) and sralai (quadruple-reed oboe). With his wife, dancer Chan Moly Sam, he has written numerous articles and books and produced both videotapes and audio recordings, many with pedagogical purposes. Although he is an active performer and lecturer, he has also worked diligently to encourage other Cambodian musicians and dancers in the USA both to perform and transmit their arts to the younger generation; to these ends he has received numerous grants and awards.

- Grove Music Online, Terry E. Miller

Dariush Talai was born February 15, 1953, in Damavand, Iran. An Iranian tār and setār player. He began his musical training at the age of 11 at the National Music Conservatory in Tehran, studying with Ali Akbar Shahnazi (1896–1984), who had a profound influence on his playing style. Talāi continued his musical education with a degree in music at the University of Tehran, where he was awarded various prizes on graduation. Between 1971 and 1978 he also studied and taught at the Centre for the Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music, working with prominent masters including Nur Ali Borumand, Abdollah Davami, Yusef Forutan and Said Hormozi. He also taught at the University of Tehran (1976–9). During the 1970s he performed at concerts organized by the Centre for the Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music and appeared on television, at the Tālār Rudaki Hall in Tehran and at the annual Shiraz festival.

In 1979 Talai moved to France, combining his international performing career with teaching and research into Iranian music. From 1979 to 1987 he taught at the University of Paris (Sorbonne). He was also a visiting artist at the University of Washington from 1991 to 1992. More recently he has spent longer periods in Iran and was appointed to teach in the music department at Tehran University in 1993. As a performer Talai is noted for his extensive knowledge of the traditional repertory. He has been regarded as particularly important for his role in the promotion of Iranian music outside Iran.

- Grove Music Online, Laudan Nooshin