Madar, Yemen is a village about 48km north of Sanaa. In 2003 a local journalist noted the existence of dinosaur footprints in limestone bedrock and brought them to the attention of geologists at the University of Sanaa. The main site of the finds, located at 15°46′49″N 44°14′25″E / 15.78028°N 44.24028°E / 15.78028; 44.24028, is approximately 3 km west off the main road, and has been signposted and fenced by the Yemen Geological Survey. Additional tracks have been recognized nearby, within the villages of Arhab and Bait al Washr. At the main site it was determined that there were tracks of eleven sauropods and one ornithopod dating from 150 million years ago. Footprints of both juveniles and adults were found. The discovery is the first of dinosaur footprints in the Arabian Peninsula, and only a very few fossils have been previously identified in the peninsula. The discovery has since been signposted for tourists, and efforts are underway to list the site with UNESCO.

The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية‎ al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemen ⁱ/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن‎ al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.

One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.

Erkan Oğur (pronounced [ˈeɾkan ˈoɰuɾ]), or Erkan Ogur in the West, (born 1954) is a Turkish musician. A pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976. A composer, he has influenced many musicians with his compositions combining the sounds of Turkish folk music, classical music with the ancient traditional music. He has played many concerts all over the world. He is regarded as a master of the kopuz and bağlama lutes.

Erkan Oğur was born in 1954, in Ankara, Turkey. He spent his childhood in Elazığ, eastern Turkey, where he became interested in violin and the Turkish bağlama lute, and started to practice them frequently. He graduated from high school in Elazığ, then moved to study physics at the Ankara University Faculty of Science from 1970 to 1973. As a result of encouragement to be a scientist by his father, he started to study chemical engineering and in 1974 continued his education in The Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Germany, for three years. He was introduced to guitar education in 1973. Instead of being a scientist, he chose to be a musician. Since he needed detailed sounds from a guitar in order to obtain Turkish melodies, he modified his guitar and invented the fretless classical guitar in 1976.

Djivan Gasparyan (var. Jivan Gasparyan;Armenian: Ջիվան Գասպարյան, Armenian pronunciation: [dʒiˈvɑn ɡɑspɑɾˈjɑn]; born October 12, 1928) is an Armenian musician and composer. He plays the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gasparyan is known as the Master of the duduk.

Born in Solag, Armenia, Gasparyan started to play duduk when he was six. In 1948 he became a soloist of the Armenian Song and Dance Popular Ensemble and the Yerevan Philarmonic Orchestra. He has won four medals at UNESCO worldwide competitions (1959, 1962, 1973, and 1980). In 1973 Gasparyan was awarded the honorary title People's Artist of Armenia and in 2002, he received the WOMEX (World Music Expo) Lifetime Achievement Award. A professor at the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory, he has instructed and nurtured many performers to professional levels of performance in duduk.

He has toured the world several times with a small ensemble playing Armenian folk music. He has collaborated with many artists, such as Hossein Alizadeh, Sting, Erkan Ogur, Michael Brook, Peter Gabriel, Brian May, Lionel Richie, Derek Sherinian, Ludovico Einaudi, Boris Grebenshchikov, David Sylvian, Hans Zimmer and Andreas Vollenweider.

Kobi Oz (Hebrew: קובי אוז‎, born 17 September 1969) is the lead singer of Israeli group Teapacks.

Yaakov (Kobi) Oz was born in Sderot to Tunisian Jewish parents. He began playing music and composing at the age of 15. He started out playing keyboards for the band Sfatayim, which performed traditional Moroccan music.

Oz is the author of two books: Petty Hoodlum (2002) and Moshe Chuato and the Raven (1996).

Oz organized a demonstration in 2007 to raise public awareness of the tragedy of his home town, which is constantly under missile attack from the Gaza Strip. About 40,000 people came to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv to show solidarity with the inhabitants of Sderot.

In 2010, Oz released his second solo album, Mizmorey Nevochim (Psalms for the Perplexed).