After being exposed to acid house and other club music styles, Tama Sumo was given her first opportunity to DJ in 1993 at Drama Bar. She then became a weekend regular at Cafe Moskau for a queer-friendly nights, and in 1994 she began her ten year residency at the influential Tresor. In 2001, Tama Sumo began her lasting affiliation with Ostgut Ton, and became a regular DJ for their party Dancing With The Aliens, shortly before the venue became Berghain & Panorama Bar. Since the early 90s, her DJing style has expanded from vocal house to include techno, broken beat, funk, and soul.

The past decade has also seen Tama Sumo produce a number of official mixes, remixes, and collaborative EPs. Her first two tracks “Play Up” and “Brothers, Sisters” were released on Ostgut Ton as a co-production with Prosumer, making GROOVE magazine’s top 50 tracks in 2008. In the following two years, she and Prosumer produced the Aliens and Mutts and Rarified EP, as well as created the second Panorama Bar mix CD in 2009. She has since contributed remixes for albums by Mount Kimbie, Mary Boyoi, and The Knife.

Tama Sumo has long been an activist in the music scene. Working against homophobia and sexism, she staged a same-sex couple “kiss-in” at Boiler Room Berlin in 2013, and also publicly condemned Islamophobia following 2016’s Orlando nightclub incident. Tama Sumo appears in an interview as part of the documentary “Sounds Queer,” a film showcasing female DJs in club music.