A master storyteller, poetic songwriter and singer Zana Messia’s background is a whirlwind ride. She spent her early childhood in the troubled Balkans, learning to play piano and winning local talent contests. When war broke out in Bosnia/ Herzegovina, her family was forced to flee as refugees to Sweden. Despite the upheaval, Zana resumed her music studies and her talent soon came to the attention of world-renowned jazz pianist and vocal coach, Steven A. Garrick a Hungarian-American pianist/arranger who had arranged for Lieber and Stoller and Count Basie, among others. He took the precocious singer under his wing tutoring her until his untimely passing.

Undeterred by the loss of her mentor, she recorded her first demo at the age of 15, and immediately landed a record contract with Sony Music in Sweden. By 16 she had performed in front of a television audience of 20,000 in the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Her compositions have been recorded in 6 languages, featured in film and TV, released by artists from around the globe including the US, New Zealand, China, Sweden and Europe. In Sweden Zana worked with many renowned artists and songwriters such as Jörgen Elofsson, Nadir Khayat (RedOne), Paul Rein, Lykke Li and Brady Blade, to name a few.  

In 2006, Zana moved back to her war-shattered hometown Mostar to work as Musical Director at the United World College, teaching singing, songwriting, ensemble and leading an ecumenical gospel choir. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles to study audio engineering at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, Zana’s original song in the film The Lightkeepers starring Richard Dreyfuss was shortlisted for an Academy Award.  Zana was also one of the featured artists for Visa’s FIFA campaign “Samba of The World.”

An experienced live entertainer, Zana has performed live on stage with Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, India Arie and many others. As an Artist, Zana has released 3 albums and several EPs. Her all acoustic, Balkan influenced jazz album Balkan Soul was executive-produced by the famed drummer Harvey Mason. The sound of The Balkan Soul Orchestra is an eclectic mix of music with a distinctly Balkan flavor combined with jazz and soul elements. Her album “Detour” features three tracks produced by the renowned bassplayer/songwriter/producer Billy Mohler. 

In 2012 Zana was awarded the prestigious Moss scholarship to study music at UCLA, by the music industry legend Jerry Moss. At UCLA, her main mentor was the guitarist Kenny Burrell and her vocal teacher was the late jazz and blues legend Barbara Morrison. 

Zana has written end title songs for many prominent independent films, including the Richard Dryfuss period drama “The Lightkeepers”, for which she was shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. 

Zana’s credits also include writing the end title for the film “Sundown” in collaboration with the iconic DJ Paul Oakenfold. She is featured on the 2019 compilation Got Soul! Vol. 4 - Kings & Queens Of Soul. 

Every last Saturday of the month, Zana organizes an event titled “Singers’ Night”.  The focus of the evening is celebrating the Art Of Song and showcasing the talent of Zana’s music students.  A prolific writer, Zana’s catalog consists of hundreds of songs in most  genres of contemporary music.

Zana’s album 11:11, written and produced in collaboration with the Swedish producer Andreas Angel has been characterized as a genre-defining, transcendental piece, redefining pop music and competed for the 2022 Grammys in three categories.  

Another project, “Blue Versions”, features popular songs with jazz arrangements and has over 15 million streams on Spotify. 

Zana’s bi-continetal band Z.M.A, just dropped their new music video for the song “Talk About A Movie”
 

Zana is available for sessions and private music lessons at her studio in Santa Monica, ZMDWorks.