Zhivka Papancheva is a beloved Bulgarian folk singer form the Strandzha region. She started singing from an early age, and graduated from the music boarding school "Filip Kutev" in Kotel, where she also taught later. She has recorded more than 30 songs for the "Golden Fund" of the Bulgarian National Radio. Some of her hits include "Siten Duzhd", "Kitka ot Strandzha", "Petur Kulelo Dyalashe", and more. Zhivka emigrated to the United States in 2000.

Dragi Spasovski was born in the small village of Studena Bara, near Kumanovo, only 25 km from Skopje. His family moved to Skopje when he was 4, and Skopje is the place where he made his first steps in exploring life, art, music and dancing. He was "the" actor in elementary school drama, and also joined the school ballet group. Finally, influenced by his mother's singing, he found himself swept away by the folk spirit. He performed as a professional singer and dancer for many years, and recorded over 100 songs for the National Radio of Macedonia. In the US, he has performed with Koleda, Balkan Cabaret, and numerous musicians from Macedonia and the US.

John Morovich grew up in Seattle's sizable Croatian community. Since 1973, he has studied, taught, and performed traditional music and dance of Croatia and other parts of Southeastern Europe. He was awarded the Washington State Arts Commission Folk Arts Fellowship for 2001.

He is a featured soloist with the Sinovi Tamburitza Orchestra, artistic director of the Seattle Junior Tamburitzans, and Klapa Ruzmarin; and past conductor of the Jele Croatian Women's Choir.

John will be inducted into the Tamburitza Association of America Hall of Fame a few weeks after balkanalia!