The following bios were current as of the Master Musician award date, but have not been updated.
Francisco Aguabella is one of the world's most respected drummers. Born in Matanzas-Cuba, an area well-known for the richness of its African traditions, Aguabella immigrated to the U.S. in 1957. He is recognized as a high priest of the religious Afro-Cuban bata percussion, which has its roots among the Yoruba people of West Africa. He has been honored by the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and in 1992 received a National Heritage Fellowship for his contribution to the arts. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Carlos Santana and Tito Puente, among others, and is the subject of a documentary directed by Les Blank for Zoetrope Studios.
Pejman Hadadi is a virtuoso Iranian tombak and daf (frame drum) player who has been hailed as "the finest Iranian percussionist living in the West" (KPFA Radio, Berkeley, CA). Hadadi began playing tombak at the age of ten under the masters of the instrument Asadollah Hejazi and Bahman Rajabi. In 1990, upon immigrating to the U.S., he began his professional career as a performing and recording artist with ensembles of Persian classical music as well as Indian, Turkish and American musicians. In 1995, Hadadi joined Dastan, a West Coast-based ensemble of Iranian musicians, which has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Iran.
Ciro Hurtado is a Peruvian guitarist/composer who has been actively performing since the early 1970s as a soloist and member of various groups in Peru, Mexico, Cuba, Europe and the United States. He studied in Peru with guitar master Augusto Portugal. Hurtado is currently the musical director and has produced several albums for the group Huayucaltia, which performs contemporary music from Latin America. He has also recorded three solo albums, and created scores for both television and films. He has been conducting workshops on Latin American guitar in the Los Angeles area for the past several years.
Liu Qi-Chao is a composer and master performer on several Chinese wind, string, and percussion instruments, including the suo na, sheng and gu zheng, among others. He was born in Shandong, China, and is currently one of the most innovative and most sought after Chinese artists living the West. In his two decade career, Liu has distinguished himself as a scholar, virtuoso performer, composer, teacher, and band leader. Liu studied at the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory and subsequently served as resident composer for the renowned Beijing Oriental Song and Dance Ensemble. In the U.S., Liu has collaborated with such groups as the Kronos Quartet, and leads his own ensemble, Chi Music.
Lillian Nakanois a master of the Japanese shamisen, a long-necked, three-string lute that is the main instrument of kabuki theater and other classical narrative ballad forms of music. Nakano was raised in Hawai'i and began studing shamisen and classical dance at the age of eight. Her studies were interrupted by World War II and by her family's internment in Jerome, California and Heart Mountain. Upon release in 1945, she resumed her studies, and in 1955, under the tutelage of Madame Kineya Shofuku of the prestigious Kineya School, received the "natori" certificate and a professional name, Kineya Fukuju. In 1996, she co-created the SanMi Ensemble with her late nephew Glenn Horiuchi.
Katsuko Teruya began studying kutuu (Okinawan koto, a stringed instrument), under master Nae Kochi of the Naha Koyokai in Japan. Katsuko moved to Hawai'i in the mid-1950s, and earned a Senior Teaching Certificate in 1965. In 1975 she established the Hawai'i chapter of the Teruya Shokyoku Kenkyukai. She has served as lead kutuu player in concert for some of the most respected ensembles and schools in Okinawa, Hawai'i and California, including Yoshino Majikina Dance and Music Festival, Nakasone Seifu-Kai, and Kaneshiro Okinawan Dance School. She received a Certificate of Commendation from Nomura-ryu Ongaku Koyokai in 1984. Now based in Los Angeles, Teruya has been teaching kutuu for more than 20 years.
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Francisco Aguabella is one of the world's most respected drummers. Born in Matanzas-Cuba, an area well-known for the richness of its African traditions, Aguabella immigrated to the U.S. in 1957. He is recognized as a high priest of the religious Afro-Cuban bata percussion, which has its roots among the Yoruba people of West Africa. He has been honored by the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and in 1992 received a National Heritage Fellowship for his contribution to the arts. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Carlos Santana and Tito Puente, among others, and is the subject of a documentary directed by Les Blank for Zoetrope Studios. 
Pejman Hadadi is a virtuoso Iranian tombak and daf (frame drum) player who has been hailed as "the finest Iranian percussionist living in the West" (KPFA Radio, Berkeley, CA). Hadadi began playing tombak at the age of ten under the masters of the instrument Asadollah Hejazi and Bahman Rajabi. In 1990, upon immigrating to the U.S., he began his professional career as a performing and recording artist with ensembles of Persian classical music as well as Indian, Turkish and American musicians. In 1995, Hadadi joined Dastan, a West Coast-based ensemble of Iranian musicians, which has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Iran. 
Ciro Hurtado is a Peruvian guitarist/composer who has been actively performing since the early 1970s as a soloist and member of various groups in Peru, Mexico, Cuba, Europe and the United States. He studied in Peru with guitar master Augusto Portugal. Hurtado is currently the musical director and has produced several albums for the group Huayucaltia, which performs contemporary music from Latin America. He has also recorded three solo albums, and created scores for both television and films. He has been conducting workshops on Latin American guitar in the Los Angeles area for the past several years. 
Liu Qi-Chao is a composer and master performer on several Chinese wind, string, and percussion instruments, including the suo na, sheng and gu zheng, among others. He was born in Shandong, China, and is currently one of the most innovative and most sought after Chinese artists living the West. In his two decade career, Liu has distinguished himself as a scholar, virtuoso performer, composer, teacher, and band leader. Liu studied at the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory and subsequently served as resident composer for the renowned Beijing Oriental Song and Dance Ensemble. In the U.S., Liu has collaborated with such groups as the Kronos Quartet, and leads his own ensemble, Chi Music. 
Lillian Nakanois a master of the Japanese shamisen, a long-necked, three-string lute that is the main instrument of kabuki theater and other classical narrative ballad forms of music. Nakano was raised in Hawai'i and began studing shamisen and classical dance at the age of eight. Her studies were interrupted by World War II and by her family's internment in Jerome, California and Heart Mountain. Upon release in 1945, she resumed her studies, and in 1955, under the tutelage of Madame Kineya Shofuku of the prestigious Kineya School, received the "natori" certificate and a professional name, Kineya Fukuju. In 1996, she co-created the SanMi Ensemble with her late nephew Glenn Horiuchi. 
Katsuko Teruya began studying kutuu (Okinawan koto, a stringed instrument), under master Nae Kochi of the Naha Koyokai in Japan. Katsuko moved to Hawai'i in the mid-1950s, and earned a Senior Teaching Certificate in 1965. In 1975 she established the Hawai'i chapter of the Teruya Shokyoku Kenkyukai. She has served as lead kutuu player in concert for some of the most respected ensembles and schools in Okinawa, Hawai'i and California, including Yoshino Majikina Dance and Music Festival, Nakasone Seifu-Kai, and Kaneshiro Okinawan Dance School. She received a Certificate of Commendation from Nomura-ryu Ongaku Koyokai in 1984. Now based in Los Angeles, Teruya has been teaching kutuu for more than 20 years.