Paul Z. Livingstone

Born in Beirut , Lebanon , Paul Z. Livingstone is an international performing artist on the sitar, fretless guitars and requintos of his own design. He has been rigorously trained for the past 20 years in India and the USA , studying under the late Amiya Dasgupta and subsequently with Rajeev Taranath and the living legend Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Paul has performed around the United States, in Mexico, Spain, Malaysia, and Bali as both a classical Indian sitarist and in various creative world music collaborations. His discography includes the recently completed CD ' Salaam Suite, featuring many Los Angeles based & international artists including members of Ozomatli, Quetzal and Kan Zaman. His debut CD Arohi featured world percussion, cello, and Venezuelan woodwinds.

A composer and session musician for film Paul has composed for Ozomatli , Alanis Morristte , documentary film soundtracks such as Movements in Madness. He composed and recorded the soundtrack for the award winning film “Turbans.” Paul also composed and recorded an Indian/hip hop musical score for the innovative Warner Brothers animation short Swaroop on Cartoon Network.

Paul has played and recorded with world music, jazz & popular artists such as Ozomatli, Alanis Morrisette, Lian Ensemble, Swapan Chaudhuri, Geetha Bennett, John Bergamo, Glen Velez, Hossien Alizadeh, Jihad Racy, Poovalur Sriji, Kenny Burrell, Chitravina RaviKiran, Pedro Eustache, Wadada Leo Smith, Sandip Burman and Prince Diabate with whom Paul created a new ensemble called Tumbafé composing new world music and playing sitar with master kora player and griot musician from Guinea, West Africa, Prince Diabaté. This unique and innovative Indo/African quartet was received with tremendous enthusiasm 1992 World Festival of Sacred Music. Paul composed Indian music and recorded sitar, sarod and requinto on the upcoming Albert Brooks film 'Looking for Humor in the Muslim World' with composer Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles), released in January 2006.

Paul played on Ozomatli's 2005 Grammy award winning 'Street Signs'. Paul also received an LA Music Week Award certificate of appreciation from the City of Los Angeles from District #1 Councilman Ed Reyes. The award & certificate are "In appreciation of pioneering music in our community and dedicating your life in teaching the rich multicultural heritage of music to our youth, therefore making our city a better place in which to live."

Paul has also studied Persian classical music with Hossein Alizadeh, Javanese Gamelan with Pak Djoko Walujo, Macedonian music with Miroslav Tadic, and jazz with Larry Koonse and Charlie Haden. Other influences in his music include Mexican, Brazilian and Flamenco music. Paul is a Cal Arts alumni BFA & MFA and an adjunct faculty member in the Cal Arts School of Music .

Gregg Johnson

Gregg A. Johnson -- 2005 CalArts Distinguished Alumni Award

Gregg attended Cal Arts as an Ahmanson Scholar from 1973 – 1979, completing a BFA and MFA in World Music Performance with specialization in the classical music of India. He studied and performed extensively with the great tabla maestro Pandit Taranath Rao (late) while at Cal Arts and for 11 years until 1991. In 1990 Gregg toured India with Pandit Taranath presenting solo and ensemble recitals on the tabla and pakhawaj.  Then, from 1991-2005, Gregg continued an intensive study in the Guru-Shishya system with Pandit Taranath's nephew, Pandit Ravindranath Bellare (late), specializing in the Farukabhad Gharana which emphasizes recitation of rhythmic Sanskrit poetry and ancient Hindu prayers set to the intricate rhythmic cycles known as Tala in settings for Kathak Dance.

Gregg is an innovator in modern hand drumming and percussion styles which
synthesize the austere musical traditions of India within contemporary classical contexts of ‘junk' and ‘found object' percussion. Gregg is a founding member of the Repercussion Unit, an internationally acclaimed percussion ensemble that Downbeat magazine described as the “genesis of a new music.” In 1976, the Repercussion Unit recorded its first LP, Repercussion Unit Strikes Again at CalArts and in 1989 released In Need Again for CMP records. The Repercussion Unit is active to this day with 29 years of international performance credits ranging wildly from two smash hit European tours to venues as diverse as the Lincoln Center and the Knitting Factory in New York City. The R.Unit is known for its affinity with the music of John Cage and Lou Harrison having headlined the Los Angeles Festival's Tribute to John Cage at MOCA and LACMA and performed for Lou Harrison's 65th Birthday Celebration.

Gregg is an award winning composer for theatre and film, having received a
Dramalogue Critic's Circle award for sound design and performance in a score for Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Kafka's Metamorphosis at the Mark Taper Forum. He composed and performed for multiple seasons of the LA Music Center's Improvisational Theatre Project and for THEATREWORKS' Pericles, Prince of Tyre and a `Midsummer Night's Dream.'