The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula (or, more generally, by southern and western Asia); on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, by Antarctica). The ocean is named after the geographic location of India.

As one component of the interconnected global ocean, the Indian Ocean is delineated from the Atlantic Ocean by the 20° east meridian running south from Cape Agulhas, and from the Pacific by the meridian of 146°55' east. The northernmost extent of the Indian Ocean is approximately 30° north in the Persian Gulf. This ocean is nearly 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) wide at the southern tips of Africa and Australia; its area is 73,556,000 square kilometres (28,350,000 sq mi), including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

Shankar Mahadevan (Tamil: ஷங்கர் மகாதேவன்) is an Indian music composer and singer. He is a part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio team that composes for Indian films and a playback singer.

Shankar Mahadevan was born and brought up in Chembur, a suburb of Mumbai, to a Tamil Iyer family from Palakkad, Kerala. He learned Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music in his childhood and started playing the veena at the age of five. He studied under Srinivas Khale, a well known Marathi music composer. He went to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School in Chembur. He subsequently attended SIES College in Sion and completed his HSC. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in Computer Science Engineering from Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai under the auspices of Mumbai University. He worked as a software engineer on Oracle Version Six.

After working for a while for Leading Edge Systems, Shankar ventured into the field of music. He earned his first award as a playback singer in a Tamil movie, collaborating with A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in Kandukondain Kandukondain. A prominent star in the Kodambakkam film industry, he gained further recognition upon the release of his first music album, Breathless, in 1998. The title track of the album had been prepared in such a manner that it is sung without any break, so it appears to be sung in one breath and thus the title "breathless". He later got into music direction and became a part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio, composing music for Hindi films.

Shubha Mudgal (born 1959) is a well-known Indian singer of Hindustani classical music, Khayal, Thumri, Dadra, and popular Indian Pop music.

She has been awarded the 1996 National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film Music Direction for 'Amrit Beej', the 1998 Gold Plaque Award for Special Achievement in Music, at the 34th Chicago International Film Festival, for her music in the film Dance of the Wind (1997), and the Padma Shri in 2000. She is also close to progressive movements like ANHAD and SAHMAT.

Born in an academic family to Skand and Jaya Gupta in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Both her parents were Professors of English Literature at Allahabad University, with deep interest in Classical Hindustani Music and Kathak. Her paternal grandfather, Prof. P. C. Gupta was also a Professor at Allahabad University.

She attended St. Mary's Convent Inter College. As a young girl she started learning Kathak in Allahabad following the foot steps of her sister. She once replied to a dance examiner's routine query of "Aap kis gharaane ki naachti hain?(What style/form do you dance?)" with the retort, "Hum apne gharaane ki naachti hain (I dance my own style)". She later switched to Hindustani Classical Music as her vocation of choice while maintaining the same individualistic attitude. Her first traditional teacher (guru) was Pandit Ramashreya Jha in Allahabad.

Mohit Chauhan (born March 11, 1974) is an Indian pop and playback singer, most known for his romantic ballads. He started his career singing Indian pop songs with the band Silk Route, which released two albums, Boondein (1998) and Pehchan. The song "Dooba Dooba" became a rave in the Indipop music scene. However, the band dissolved. He would stay off the scene for a while until he came back with the song "Guncha" in 2005 from the "Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh" for which, he would also compose. Impressed by his vocals, he was then approached by A. R. Rahman to sing for the movie Rang De Basanti. The song "Khoon Chala" earned him rave reviews. However, it wouldn't be until 2007 when music director Pritam approached him for the song Tum Se Hi for the movie Jab We Met that Chauhan would finally achieve mainstream success.

Mohit Chauhan was born in the town of Nahan in Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh, to Krishana Rana and B. K. Rana. He can speak fluently in Pahari and Hindi. He first attended St. Xavier's School, Delhi and then again moved to Himachal Pradesh to complete his education. Chauhan went to college in Nahan Sirmour, Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu, and graduated with a Master of Science in Geology from the Dharamshala College in Himachal.

Karsh Kale (pronounced Kursh Kah-lay) is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music. In addition to production, remixing, and DJ work, Kale is known for his tabla drumming and film composition.

Born as Utkarsha Kale on November 1, 1974 to Indian immigrants in West Bromwich, England, Kale was raised in Brooklyn, New York after his parents relocated in 1977. Kale took an interest in drums and eventually became a tabla player. Kale's father introduced Kale to a broad range of music, which included traditional Indian music, classical, rock, and even early hip-hop. From this broad range of influences, Kale, who was self-taught, developed his own style, which eventually led to his "electric tabla".

In 2000, Bill Laswell founded Tabla Beat Science, inviting Kale, along with Zakir Hussain, Talvin Singh, Trilok Gurtu and Sultan Khan. Together, the group released Tala Matrix that year. The album is considered to be one of the influential Asian Fusion albums to date, and the group embarked on a tour, of which one of the shows was later released on DVD.