Vas | |
Background: | group_or_band |
Origin: | Los Angeles, United States |
Genre: | Tribal fusion, world |
Years Active: | 1996–2004 |
Label: | Narada/MCA Records Narada/Virgin/EMI Records |
Current Members: | Azam Ali Greg Ellis |
Vas was an alternative world musical group which consisted of Persian vocalist Azam Ali and American percussionist Greg Ellis. Vas is frequently compared to the Australian band Dead Can Dance. 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, in 1985, where she began studying the dulcimer-like santur under the guidance of Manoochehr Sadeghi. Greg Ellis was born and raised in Los Gatos, California, 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 in 1995 after hearing each other perform; they formed Vas shortly thereafter.