Omara Portuonda is the grand old lady of Cuban music. While her early recordings made her a star in Cuba, her participation in the 1996 album and video documentary, The Buena Vista Social Club, brought her to international attention. Her solo album, The Buena Vista Social Club Presents Omara Portuondo, released in 2000, reinforced her status as one of Cuba's greatest musical ambassadors.
A native of Havana, Portuondo was one of three daughters born to a baseball player on the Cuban national team and a woman of Spanish heritage who left the comfort and support of her wealthy family home to marry the man she loved. Her parents' singing provided the soundtrack for her early life. As a youngster, she sang in school choirs and music classes.

RADIANCE is the solo project of Sami Raatikainen, a Finnish musician/producer. THE BURNING SUN is the 2010 debut album. It is a continuous, 49-minute track and is meant to be listened to as a whole. The album is split into seven tracks purely out of practical reasons.Sami Raatikainen is a Finnish guitarist who plays for the German technical death metal band Necrophagist. He joined Necrophagist in 2006 after the departure of Christian Münzner. He also plays guitar in the Finnish technical death metal band, Codeon.