zam johnson zam johnson [KYJELLY]
monumentenstraße 25
10965 berlin
phone/fax : +49 (0)30 785 25 34
email: zam@unga-unga.com 



curriculum vitae

born and raised in los angeles, california, zam has worked in the record industry, countless television commercials, film scores, and the avantgard music scene, in the United States, Europe and Japan.

during his high school time he began his career as a drummer, working in the los angeles club and studio scene.
in the early eighties he began promoting his synthesizer work, composing music for avantgarde film and dance, he teamed with painter norton wisdom, and formed the science and industry performance art group .. they toured the usa and europe. it was a big multi media event.

since 1988 zam is based in berlin, working as a composer for theatre, dance and film. he is very much involved in the theatre, dance, studio, concerts and the avantgarde music scene. his skills in performing electronic effects and sound scores make him one of the most demanded artist. zam is a master of performing all styles of acoustic and electronic drumming and percussion.

from 1989 he has been a steady member of 'tatoeba theatre danse grotesque', and is their main composer. 1993 he composed the music for the butoh film 'ju ni hitoe' or 'the twelve kimonos'. this film had its premier at the berlin film festival berlinale.
in march 1994 zam got an invitation and stipendium from the goethe-institut in tokio, japan to compose and perform live the music for ,'rabenstein - the collector' for 'tatoeba theatre danse grotesque'.

1995 he founded 'ten pen chii art factory' with sculptor joachim manger and the butoh dancer yumiko yoshioka.
the metal sculptures which are designed by joachim can also be played as a music instrument by zam.
in October 1996 they performed 'n-yoin', a big multi-media performance with 6 dancers and a 4.5 meter big metal sculpture, made out of 10.000 pipes. all of the music was also captured on zam's first solo cd 'n-yoin'.



zam performed and recorded for:
gino vanelli
the beach boys
brian wilson
ray charles singers
red bone
iron butterfly torn petty
ike turner
sweet inspirations
b.j. and the bear, tv show nbc
barry white productions
leon ware, motown producer
greg evegon, tv star
billy griffin, Columbia record artist
... and many more
in europe zam recorded for:
garry wiggins: 'time for saxing'
hanno rinne: 'jazz in the house'
ulli bartel: 'violin connection'
florian schneider: 'alice in fashionland'
so 36: 'i belive you now'
black heritage: featuring eddie harris
stan red fox: 'the end of the skinny bodies'
bob lenox: 'love blue'
lenox and lenox: 'rolling like thunder'
mack goldsbury: 'surging'
zam johnson: 'n-yoin'
wayne martin: 'home town boy'
stoppok: all CDs since april 1999
... and more
in europe zam has performed most major music festivals:
  • jazzfestivals in montreux, brüssel, ulm, leverkusen, freiburg, bielefeld, bremen, kempten
  • bluesfestivals in osnabrück, minden, hannover, rügen
  • rockfestival in lübeck
  • 1997 on tour with golden gospel pearls all over europe
  • workshop teacher july 1998 in genova / nervi with benny golson, horace parlan, buster williams, lee brown

zam has written and composed for the following theatre groups:
  • imagine I
  • tatoeba
  • ten pen chii
  • white monkeys dance play
  • why not orchestra and dance group
  • panic theatre group
  • east meets west performing art group