Roland Zoss (born 2 August 1961) is a

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. He studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

and

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. He lives in the

Aeolian Islands The Aeolian Islands ( ; it, Isole Eolie ; scn, Ìsuli Eoli), sometimes referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group ( , ) after their largest island, are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, said to be named after ...

Songwriter and novelist

Roland Zoss started his early songwriter career in the late 1970s in Switzerland and Germany. After travelling the world, performing in the Troubadour in Los Angeles, he made success in Europe in 2004 with the album ''Härzland'' (Heartland) with

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...

translations of the Leonard Cohen songs "

First We Take Manhattan "First We Take Manhattan" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. It was originally recorded by American singer Jennifer Warnes on her 1986 Cohen tribute album ''Famous Blue Raincoat'', which consisted entirely of songs wr ...

" ("Zersch näh me mer Manhattan"), "

Halleluja ''Hallelujah'' ( ; he, ''haləlū-Yāh'', meaning "praise Yah") is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four time ...

" and the

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

song " In the Ghetto". He works with musicians and artists like Gottfried Helnwein,

Michael Mish Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

, Clare de Lune,

Mauro Guiretti Mauro may refer to: Given name * Mauro (footballer, born 1932), Brazilian footballer * Mauro Silva (footballer, born 1978), Brazilian footballer * Mauro (footballer, born 1984), Portuguese footballer * Bruno Mauro (born 1973), Angolan footballer * ...

and Shirley Grimes. With Idan Raichel, Maggie Reilly,

Marta Gomez Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) :István Márta composer * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an ...

he is producing a children's world music lullabies album, ''Slumberland''. The latest work is two song albums ''Baumlieder'' about the mythology and character of 30 trees. Various novels, including the awarded: The island beyond the moon. He was the first singer to compose tree songs and to put 17 trees into music.

Swiss Mouse Jimmy Flitz

Between 1999 and 2015, he released two dozen albums for children, some in English, some Spanish, some French, becoming one of the most known

singers for children. His brand became the mouse

Jimmy Flitz Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

known in the multi-awarded radio play series about Swiss mythologies ''Jimmy Flitz'' ("a journey through Switzerland") in 2007, starring his famous mouse on airlines. In 2010, the book ''Jimmy Flitz, die Schweizermaus'' (The Swiss Mouse) was released. Zoss represents Switzerland in his native Swiss dialect on the world music children's CD ''European Playground'' with the songs "Baerengeburi-Bubuland" and "Krokodil". Some songs are covered in English, French and Spanish.

Swiss ABC Dino ''Xenegugeli''

After three highly acclaimed recordings, ''Muku-Tiki-Mu'', ''Schlummerland'' and JimmyFlitz-'' Swiss Christmas'', in 2014 the app "ABC Dino Xenegugeli" became a worldwide success. The international educational app for children shows handcrafted art pictures, animated and combined with animal songs to each letter of the alphabet in five languages, plus e-books. The ABC Dino was nominated at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015 as best children app, age 4-6. The German Youth Institute Munich does "highly recommend" the Ap
Youth Institute Munich/Germany

Discography

*1981 LP ''Roland Zoss'', cover art work by Gottfried Helnwein *1983 LP ''Sternstunde'' *1985 LP ''Die Ewigkeit klopft an'' *1989 CD ''Fly my soul'', ©RZ 004/RZ 005 & videoclip *1993 Radio feature and e-book ''Die Insel hinterm Mond'' (The Island beyond the moon) *1998 CD ''Saitenstrassen'', songs and novel about the 1970s *1999 CD ''ABC Xenegugeli'', 28 animal songs, incl. ''Krokodil'' 2012 on a putumayo world music album *2001 CD 1 & 2 ''Muku-Tiki-Mu'', world children's music, UNESCO patronage *2002 ''Güschi'' 1-6, a Swiss dialect radio play serie *2003-06 ''Liedermärli'', 8 CDs fairy tales, musicals in Swiss dialect *2004 ''Härzland'', CD, rock-pop-poetry in Swiss with local stars Linard Bardill, Yvonne Moore, Carin Lavey, Djamila Tahar-Chaouch, Christoph Kohli SPAN, *2004 ''Schlumberland'', lullabies with Shirley Grimes and Asita Hamidi with sound ingeneer and harp of

Andreas Vollenweider Andreas Vollenweider (born 4 October 1953) is a Swiss harpist. He is generally categorised as a new-age musician and uses a modified electroacoustic harp of his own design. He has worked with Bobby McFerrin, Carly Simon, Luciano Pavarotti and in ...

, incl. ''Bärengeburi Bubuland'' on putmayo world music ''European playground'' *2007 ''Jimmy Flitz, the Swiss mouse'' a radio play serie with Swiss stars. *2009 ''Jimmy Flitz-Hits'', CD *2011 ''SingDing'', songs about the secret live of things. *2012 ''Xenegugeli GOLD-ABC'', 26 new animal songs. Release of "Krokodil" on Putumayo Sing-Along Sampler. *2012 ''ÄngelsMusic'' meditation music about 9 angels. *2013 ''Jimmy Flitz ChinderWiehnacht'', a Swiss Christmas musical with local stars and choirs: Steff la Cheffe, Tinu Heiniger,

Christine Lauterburg Christine Lauterburg (born 12 March 1956 in Bern) is a Swiss singer and yodeler. Lauterburg often remakes Swiss folk songs but also composes her own music. In contrast to most contemporary Swiss musicians, who use the Anglo-Saxon folk songs as a fo ...

(Jodel). Best children's album award 2015! *2015 ''Jimmy Flitz - a trip to Helvetia'' and ''A mouse goes into the parliament'' radio plays part 5 and 6 with

Pedro Lenz Pedro Lenz (born 8 March 1965 in Langenthal) is a Swiss writer. Life Lenz studied Spanish literature at the University of Bern. He has worked full-time as a writer since 2001. He writes columns for several newspapers in Switzerland, includi ...

, Eluveitie,

Steff la Cheffe Steff is a given name which can be male or female or a shortened form of Stephan or Stephanie. Notable people with the name include: *Steff Fontaine *Steff Frost *Steff Gaulter See also * Stef Stef is a given name or nickname, and a surname. Not ...

, Knackeboul,

Shem Thomas Shem (; he, שֵׁם ''Šēm''; ar, سَام, Sām) ''Sḗm''; Ge'ez: ሴም, ''Sēm'' was one of the sons of Noah in the book of Genesis and in the book of Chronicles, and the Quran. The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud ...

and more. Award "Golden Crown" best children's album 2015! *2009 ''Jimmy Flitz-Hits 2'', CD *2018 ''Baumlieder - Tree Songs'', 2x15 songs about trees CD

Awards

In 1993, Zoss received a literary award for the Aeolian tale and e-book ''The Island beyond the Moon'' and a dozen Golden Crown awards for his unique music for children. Several awards for the ''ABC Xenegugeli'' a multilingual ABC app, book and songs in English, Spanish, French, German and Swiss German. In 2010, the Swiss postal service honoured the work of Zoss with a

stamp. 2015 Golden Crown award for the best children album. ''ABC Dino'' was nominated in 2015 at the Frankfurt Book Fair as best children app, age 4-6

References