A prayer wheel is a cylindrical "wheel" (Tibetan: འཁོར་, Wylie: 'khor) on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone, leather or coarse cotton. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit on the outside of the wheel. Also sometimes depicted are Dakinis, Protectors and very often the 8 auspicious symbols Ashtamangala. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition based on the lineage texts regarding prayer wheels, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers.

Prayer wheel or Mani wheel (Tibetan: མ་ནི་ཆོས་འཁོར་, Wylie: mani-chos-'khor). The Tibetan term is a contraction: "Mani" itself is a contraction of Sanskrit cintamani; "chos" is Tibetan for Dharma; and "khor" or "khorlo" means chakrano

The earliest recorded prayer wheels were written of by a Chinese pilgrim around 400 C.E. in Ladakh.^{[citation needed]} The concept of the prayer wheel is a physical manifestation of the phrase "turning the wheel of Dharma," which describes the way in which the Buddha taught.

Eddi Reader MBE (born Sadenia Reader; 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known both for her work with Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards and has topped both the album and singles charts. In 2003 she showcased the works of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns.

Reader was born in Glasgow, the daughter of a welder, and the eldest of seven children (her brother, Francis, is vocalist with the band The Trash Can Sinatras). She was nicknamed Edna by her parents. Living at first in the district of Anderston, Glasgow, in a tenement slum demolished in 1965, The young Reader family moved to a two-bedroomed flat in the estate of Arden, Glasgow.

In 1976, due to overcrowding the family was re-housed 25 miles from Glasgow, in the council development of Irvine, Ayrshire; however, Eddi returned to Glasgow (where she lived with her grandmother) in order to finish her compulsory schooling. She began playing the guitar at the age of ten, and started her musical career busking, first in Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street, then in the early 1980s in London and around Europe (where she also worked with circus and performance artists).

Nels Cline (born January 4, 1956 in Los Angeles) is an American guitarist and composer with the Nels Cline Singers and Wilco. He was named the 82nd greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine in November 2011, and the 43rd greatest guitarist of all time by Spin magazine in May 2012.

Cline began to play guitar at age 12 when his twin brother, Alex Cline took up the drums. The pair developed musically together, playing in a youth rock band they dubbed "Homogenized Goo" and both graduated from University High School (Los Angeles, California).

Cline is known for his improvisational work and for the diversity of his musical projects, as well as his use of effects pedals and looping devices which give his music a distinct sound. He has played with jazz musicians Charlie Haden, Gregg Bendian, Wadada Leo Smith, Tim Berne, Vinny Golia and the late bassist Eric Von Essen, a longtime musical companion in the L.A. jazz group Quartet Music.

In 1983, Nels was asked by drummer Chris Mancinelli and bassist Steuart Liebig to join the early formation of BLOC. The trio developed musical ideas for about a year. At this point they added another guitarist NIcholas Kirgo and vocalist Camille Henry. The quintet became a Los Angeles club favorite and garnered much praise from the local press and media. Practically every major label was interested at some point but no major label seemed to have a clue how to promote the multi-talented group. In 1990 with Tony Peluso producing, they were signed with A&M Records after turning down a previous offer from Atlantic Records. The album "In the Free Zone" was released in early 1991. A&M at this point was in the middle of being sold to Polygram and there was little support at the label for the band. They were bought out of their 2 album deal and promptly dropped a month after the album's release. After 8 years of performing and recording the group decided to break up and move on.

James Asher is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer, focusing on world music, trance music and New Age music.

Born in a suburb of London in the early 1950s, Asher began to study the violin at the age of seven. As a teenager, he participated in his school choir and orchestra, of which his father was the chief instructor.

Following his traditional musical education, Asher taught himself the drums and the keyboard and later apprenticed himself at several recording studios in the UK. In 1979, Asher opened his own studio, Starfield, and released his first single, "Peppermint Lump", which was produced by Pete Townshend. However, Asher's initial focus at Starfield was primarily on the bread-and-butter work afforded by the commercial soundtrack industry. During its first decade of operation, Asher licensed over 20 soundtracks to the likes of Cinema Euro Group, Central TV, Grenada TV, Channel Four and MTV.

In 1988, Asher released his first full-length, commercial album, The Great Wheel, which reached number 13 on Billboard magazine's New Age Music Chart. In 1996, Asher signed with New Earth Records and released Feet in the Soil, which combined elements of African percussion, Australian aboriginal music, and electronic programming. Edified by the success of the burgeoning "world music" category, as evidenced by releases by contemporaries Peter Gabriel, Johnny Clegg, David and Steve Gordon (Sacred Earth Drums) and David Byrne's world music record label, Luaka Bop, Feet in the Soil sold nearly 100,000 copies within the first 18 months of its initial release and has sold nearly 200,000 copies overall, according to New Earth Records president, Bhikkhu Schober.