Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. Pachamama is usually translated as Mother Earth, but a more literal translation would be "Mother world" (in Aymara and Quechua mama = mother / pacha = world or land; and later widened in a modern meaning as the cosmos or the universe). Pachamama and Inti are the most benevolent deities; they are worshiped in parts of the Andean mountain ranges, also known as Tawantinsuyu (the former Inca Empire) (stretching from present day Ecuador to Chile and northern Argentina being present day Peru the center of the empire with its capital city in Cuzco).

In Inca mythology, Mama Pacha or Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting. She causes earthquakes. Her husband was either Pacha Camac or Inti, depending on the source. Llamas are sacrificed to her. After the conquest by Spain, which forced conversion to Roman Catholicism, the figure of the Virgin Mary became united with that of the Pachamama for many of the indigenous people.

Haydée Mercedes Sosa (9 July 1935 – 4 October 2009), known as La Negra (literally: The Black One), was an Argentine singer who was popular throughout South America and many countries outside the continent. With her roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva canción. She gave voice to songs written by both Brazilians and Cubans. She was best known as the "voice of the voiceless ones".

Sosa performed in venues such as the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Théâtre Mogador in Paris and the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, as well as sell-out shows in New York's Carnegie Hall and the Roman Coliseum during her final decade of life. Her career spanned four decades and she has been the recipient of several Grammy awards and nominations, including three nominations which will be decided posthumously. She served as an ambassador for UNICEF.

Sosa was born on 9 July 1935, in San Miguel de Tucumán, in the northwestern Argentine province of Tucumán, of mestizo, French, and Quechua Amerindian ancestry. In 1950, at age fifteen, she won a singing competition organized by a local radio station and was given a contract to perform for two months. She recorded her first album, La Voz de la Zafra, in 1959. A performance at the 1965 Cosquín National Folklore Festival -where she was introduced and brought to the scene while seating among the public by fellow folk singer Jorge Cafrune-, brought her to the attention of her native countrypeople.

Patrick Fiori (born Patrick Jean-François Chouchayan on 23 September 1969 in Marseille, France) is a French singer.

Fiori was born to an Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican mother (Marie Antoinette Fiori) in Marseille, France. When he was only 12 years old, he was offered his first role in the musical La légende des santonniers. At the age of 17, he recorded his first single, entitled "Stéphanie". In 1993, Fiori came fourth place in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Mama Corsica". The following year, his first album was released, entitled Puisque c'est l'heure. His successful audition for the musical Notre Dame de Paris enabled him to originate the role of Phoebus both onstage and in the recording studio. With Daniel Lavoie and Garou, he recorded the successful song "Belle". The following year, Patrick signed a contract with Sony and recorded his 3rd album Prends Moi (Take me). Patrick finally decided to end his role in Notre Dame de Paris in the year 2000 in order to dedicate more time to his fourth album, Chrysalide. Two years after, his fifth album was released and in 2008 the album Les choses de la vie was released, followed by the most recent album "L'instinct masculin". His 2007 single "4 Mots sur un piano" was number one in the French charts for 2 weeks.

Ana Lila Downs Sánchez best known as Lila Downs (born in September 19, 1968) is a Mexican singer-songwriter. She performs her own compositions as well as tapping into Mexican traditional and popular music. She also incorporates indigenous mexican influences and has recorded songs in indigenous languages such as mixtec, zapotec, maya, nahuatl and p'urhépecha.

Her debut album, La Sandunga, was released in 1999 and she achieved international success in 2001 with the album Border who emerged in the music scene of Mexico and Latin America in the early 2000s (decade) decade. Lila began performing in school, demonstrating her vocal ability with traditional music, Latin and American influences with her own original twist on dancing. Downs is a native spanish speaker and also speaks fluent english and mixtec.

Lila Downs was born September 19, 1968 in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico, the daughter of Anita Sanchez, a Mixtec cabaret singer and Allen Downs, a British-American professor of art and cinematographer from Minnesota. From an early age Lila showed interest in music; at the age of eight she began singing rancheras and other traditional Mexican songs. She began her professional career singing with mariachis. At fourteen she moved to the United States with her parents. She studied voice in Los Angeles and learned the English language, which her father helped her to perfect. When she was 16, her father died and afterward she decided to return to her native Tlaxiaco with her mother.

Vandana Shiva (Hindi: वन्दना शिवा; b. November 5, 1952, Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, India), is a philosopher, environmental activist, author and eco feminist. Shiva, currently based in Delhi, has authored more than 20 books. She was trained as a physicist and received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in 1978 with the doctoral dissertation "Hidden variables and locality in quantum theory."

She is one of the leaders and board members of the International Forum on Globalization, (along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, Jeremy Rifkin, et al.), and a figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement. She has argued for the wisdom of many traditional practices, as is evident from her interview in the book Vedic Ecology (by Ranchor Prime) that draws upon India's Vedic heritage. She is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank.

She was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1993.