This week's Mindful Music guest is Zamir Gotta best known as American chef Anthony Bourdain's travel companion. Zamir talks about his relationship with Anthony, how an even more significant tragedy struck his life last year, and the Led Zeppelin song that ties it all together.
Zamir was discovered by U.S. audiences on Anthony Bourdain’s TV show, A Cook’s Tour, in 2002. He then joined Bourdain on the Travel Channel TV program, No Reservations, where they traveled to Uzbekistan, Russia and Romania and later in the U.S. Rust Belt, including Buffalo, Ukraine, and Kansas City. Zamir also accompanied Bourdain in Batumi, during Bourdain's subsequent series, Parts Unknown. The two originally met during a two-part episode in Saint Petersburg, Russia for Bourdain's earlier series, A Cook's Tour which aired on the Food Network in 2002.
Zamir received his education from the Moscow State Pedagogical University where he majored in English. He comes from a family of educators. His mother taught German and his aunts were also school teachers. After graduating from college and an internship in Iraq, he worked as an English teacher in a Moscow school for 5 years from 1983 to 1988.
He started as a freelance film producer, working on American film productions in Russia. Since 2006 he has been a consultant at the Trident Media Group in New York City. He was an associate producer for the episode of the American documentary television series Cities of the Underworld titled Stalin's Secret Lair, which first aired on the History Channel in 2008. And he was also an associate producer for the 2008 Nova TV series documentary titled Astrospies."
Listen to Zamir's Playlist: