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The nomadic Roma are known as musicians wherever they travel. Their music incorporates a multitude of influences: Indian roots, and then Greek, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Czech, Slavic, Romanian, German, French, Spanish and Celtic touches.

* Çağatay Acar (Turkey)

The term kemenche (Turkish: kemençe, Laz: Ç'ilili - ჭილილი, Persian: کمانچه, Greek: κεμεντζές) is used to describe two types of three-stringed bowed musical instruments: 1. a bottle-shaped lute closely related to the Persian Kamanche, found in the Black Sea region of Asia Minor, it is also known as the "kementche of Laz" or Pontic kemenche and 2. a pear-shaped lute closely related to the Byzantine lyra, found mainly in Instabul and the Eastern regions of Turkey, known as Classical kemenche.

KEMENCHE: (Turkish: kemençe, Laz: Ç'ilili (ჭილილი), Greek: κεμεντζές) (Persian: کمانچه ), kamancheh, kamencheh, kamānche, kamāncha, qyamancha

Now living in the USA, Arto has performed and recorded with an array of outstanding jazz and world music artists, including popular Greek artists such as Eleftheria Arvanitaki, as well as the Spanish guitarist Gerardo Nuñez, and Joe Zawinul, Al Di Meola,

"In Turkey and Greece, as far back as the 16th century, groups of cantors and religious figures used to gather in the early morning, before prayer services, to sing devotional poetry in Hebrew. This gave rise to a distinct and complex form of music called maftirim, which only the most talented men could master. These small gatherings were part of a broader musical exchange under the Ottoman empire: Muslim Sufi mystics would come to synagogue on the Sabbath to listen to the maftirim. And the Jewish maftirim singers would visit Sufi lodges for musical inspiration."