The Volga (Russian: Во́лга; IPA: [ˈvolɡə] ( listen)) is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage basin. Some of the largest reservoirs in the world can be found along the Volga. The river has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Volga-Matushka (Volga-mother) in Russian literature and folklore.

The Russian hydronym Volga (Волга) derives from Proto-Slavic *vòlga "wetness, moisture", which is preserved in many Slavic languages, including Ukrainian vológa (воло́га) "moisture", Russian vlaga (влага) "moisture", Bulgarian vlaga (влага) "moisture", Czech vláha "dampness", and Serbo-Croatian vlȁga "moisture", among others.

The Slavic name is a loan translation of earlier Scythian Rā (Ῥᾶ) "Volga", literally "wetness", seen also in Avestan Raŋhā "mythical stream" and Sogdian r’k "vein, blood vessel" (< *raha-ka), and cognate with Sanskrit rasā́h "liquid, juice; mythical river". The Scythian name survives in modern Mordvin Rav (Рав) "Volga".

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno /ˈlɛnoʊ/ (born April 28, 1950) is an American stand-up comedian and television host.

From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time, UTC-5), also on NBC. After The Jay Leno Show was canceled in January 2010 amid a host controversy, Leno returned to host The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 1, 2010.

James "Jay" Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1950. His mother, Catherine (née Muir; 1911–1993), a homemaker, was born in Greenock, Scotland, and came to the United States at age 11. Leno's father, Angelo (1910–1994), who worked as an insurance salesman, was born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Italy. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and although his high school guidance counselor recommended that he drop out of school, he later obtained a Bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College, where he started a comedy club in 1973. Leno's siblings include his late older brother, Patrick, who was a Vietnam veteran and a lawyer.

Burak Kut (born 27 August 1973 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish pop singer.

As a child, Burak attended Müziğe Çapa and played in the orchestra for many years. He continued playing in an orchestra until he entered high school at İstanbul Anadolu Güzel Sanatlar Lisesi, where he began to play flute and piano. Burak then attended Kabataş Erkek Lisesi, coming third to Kenan Doğulu in a school competition the first year, he won the competition three years running.

He released his first album Benimle Oynama/Çılgınım with Peker Music. His rise to fame rocketed, performing over 300 concerts soon after the album was released. He also won the European MTV "Local Hero Award" around this time. Burak did most of the work on his second album Nereden Geldim, Nerelere Gideceğim. His song Yaşandı Bitti gained airplay in New York, and his popularity now stretched out to the United States.

While working on an album, Burak did a duet with Sarah Brightman accompanied by an orchestra ensemble of 100 musicians. He also sang duets with Greek singer Sakis Rouvas in Cyprus at the Border Line (Yeşil Hat) to help the two nations come together. He self-produced his third album Küçük Prens. He also later signed on to Universal Records and they helped him release a fourth self-titled album in 2000. After 7 years he released "Komple", a cover of Daddy Yankee's Rompe with lyrics written by Sezen Aksu. Burak Kut is releasing his new album called "İlaç" on 11 December 2009, album with 12 songs.

Hande Yener (born January 12, 1973 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish pop singer. Over the past decade, she has introduced different styles to the ever expanding Turkish pop music scenery. Each one of her albums has generated a lot of interest as well as anticipation due to the different styles, genres and rhythms that she incorporates into her music. Besides the different experiments Hande tackles with music, her looks and image are also going through a constant change which blends with the sort of music she releases at the time. Hande was nominated for Best Turkish Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008, only to be beaten by Emre Aydın. She has sold close to 17 million albums all over the world.

In 1992, Hande Yener met Hülya Avşar, who was shopping at the department store she worked at. Hülya Avşar would arrange for a meeting with her to meet Sezen Aksu, who would eventually invite her to audition in order to work with her on her upcoming album. Hande went on to be hired and quickly become Sezen Aksu's assistant and back vocalist for her album, "Deli Kızın Türküsü" (Folk Songs of a Crazy Girl). This gave her the first stepping stone into the music industry, as working with Aksu allowed her not only to gain some experience as an artist, but also play contributions to producing some of Sezen's famous albums during the 1990s.

Kari Tapani Jalkanen (22 November 1945 – 7 December 2010), better known by his stage name Kari Tapio, was a Finnish schlager and country & western singer. During his career, he was one of the most popular singers in Finland for decades; having sold over 830,000 certified records (during his career and posthumously), he is the best-selling soloist in the country. Tapio was born in Suonenjoki, Finland. In the 1960s Tapio performed in his home town Pieksämäki with the local bands ER-Quartet and Jami & The Noisemakers. In 1966 he took singing lessons from Ture Ara.

After his first single "Tuuli kääntyköön"/"Niskavuoren nuorimmainen" in 1972 Kari Tapio performed in Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen's show. In the beginning his role was to take care of the snake that was used in the show. Before music became a job for him Kari Tapio worked as a typesetter in a printing house.

In 1976 Tapio finally broke through with his single "Laula kanssain" (a Finnish cover of "Sing My Lovesong") which was followed by "Viisitoista kesää" (a Finnish cover of Living Next Door to Alice) and "Kaipuu" ("Desire"). In later years "Olen suomalainen" ("I am Finnish", a Finnish cover of Toto Cutugno's "L'Italiano"), "Myrskyn jälkeen" ("After the Storm"), "En pyydä paljon" ("I Don't Ask For Much") and the newest "Paalupaikka" ("Pole Position"), among others, have been his most popular songs. In 2003 the Iskelmä-Finlandia award was given to him.