Johari Menelik Frasier
Actor, Composer, Lyricist
Composer and Writer
Johari has always been fascinated by the interplay of music and the spoken word. As a child, he fell in love with the background music of video games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Guilty Gear, and Tales of Symphonia. With age, and a push from a good friend, he began exploring the musical theatre genre, first seeing Sandy Wilson's The Boyfriend. From then on, he was hooked and has been writing music ever since.
Given his video game and musical theatre background, it likely comes as no surprise that Johari's main influences come from those two fields. His favorite composers include Cy Coleman, Frank Wildhorn, Frank Loesser, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Noel Katz, Beth Falcone, Daisuke Ishiwatari, and Motoi Sakuraba.
Currently, Johari is working on a musical based William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar as well as writing the music for an untitled project with his friend, the talented actress/lyricist Jordan Rose Donahue, based on a girl's experience in a psychiatric hospital.
You can hear clips of his music by visiting his music page below, or view performance videos by visiting his youtube page.
In addition to writing new music, Johari also transposes and copies music, and edits essays and academic articles. He's found that pursuing these endeavors keeps him constantly exposed to music and engages the physics and material science muscles he built in college.