Azam Ali

Azam Ali (Persian: اعظم علی‎) is an Iranian singer and musician. As of 2013, Ali has released eight full-length albums with the bands VAS and Niyaz, as well as four full-length solo albums.

Born in Tehran on 3 October 1970, Ali spent most of her childhood in Panchgani, India. Ali and her mother moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1985, after which Ali discovered the santour. Ali then studied the santour under Persian master Manoochehr Sadeghi, which led to the rediscovery of her voice.

In 1996, Ali formed "alternative world" group VAS with percussionist Greg Ellis after meeting the year prior at a concert at UCLA. She and her husband, Loga Ramin Torkian, are also part of another group, Niyaz, an Iranian acoustic electronic group.

In 2005, Azam Ali was featured in Enter the Chicken, a 2005 Buckethead album, singing the song "Coma" with Serj Tankian.

Solo career

In 2002, Ali released her first solo album, Portals of Grace. This was followed up with 2006's Elysium for the Brave, which reached #10 on Billboard's World Albums chart on 23 September 2006. Ali's third album, From Night to the Edge of Day (2011), is a collection of lullabies inspired by her son. Lamentation of Swans - A Journey Towards Silence (2013), Ali's fourth album, is a joint effort with her husband Loga Ramin Torkian that began in 2009 and explores the intimate spaces they had to carve out for themselves to escape the demands of touring.

In 2003 she sang Inama Nushif in the fictional Fremen language for the soundtrack to the 2003 Sci Fi Channel mini-series Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, written by Brian Tyler. In 2006 she was featured vocals in the movie 300. In 2012, she was the vocalist for Square Enix's Final Fantasy video game tech demo Agni's Philosophy. She also helped American composer Jack Wall on the soundtrack for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 by being vocalist on the track "Pakistan Run".

In September 2013, Ali announced that she would provide vocals for the soundtrack of the film Thor: The Dark World.

On May 31, 2019, Ali announced her next album, the self-produced PHANTOMS, along with its first single and music video, "Hope." The next single was the album's self-titled track, "Phantoms," and was released on July 12th. The album was released on September 13th, 2019.

Solo albums

• Portals of Grace (2002)
• Elysium for the Brave (2006)
• Green Memories (2008)
• From Night to the Edge of Day (2011)
• Lamentation of Swans - A Journey Towards Silence (2013)
• PHANTOMS (2019)

With VAS

• Sunyata (1997)
• Offerings (1998)
• In the Garden of Souls (2000)
• Feast of Silence (2004)

Greg Ellis

• Kala Rupa Explorations in Rhythm (2001)

With Niyaz

• Niyaz (2005)
• Nine Heavens (2008)
• Sumud (2012)
• Sumud Acoustic EP (2013)
• The Fourth Light (2015)

With VGM

• Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (2007)
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011)

With Buckethead

• Enter the Chicken (song "Coma")

With Roseland

• Roseland (2007)

Solo

• Where's Neil When You Need Him? (2006, song "The Cold Black Key")