Somi

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• Somi

  Vocalist, composer, and playwright Somi Kakoma was raised between Illinois and Zambia,

  and is the daughter of immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Known in the jazz world

  simply as ‘Somi’, The New York Times recently described her as “a virtuosic performer in

  full command of her instrument and powers.” In March 2022, Somi released her 5th studio

  album Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba, all-star tribute album honoring the

  great South African artist and activist in commemoration of what would have been the late

  singer’s 90th birthday. The album won an inaugural Jazz Music Award for Best Vocal

  Performance. As a companion project to the album, Somi also wrote and stars in the

  critically-acclaimed original musical about Makeba called “Dreaming Zenzile” that toured

  nationally and Off-Broadway last season. Prior to the Zenzile album, Somi released an

  unplanned live album called ‘Holy Room’ featuring the Frankfurt Radio Big Band at the

  height of the 2020 global lockdown. The album ultimately earned her a 2021 Grammy®

  nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album, making her the first African woman ever nominated

  in any of the Grammy® jazz categories. The album also won an NAACP Image Award for

  Outstanding Jazz Vocal Album. Her previous studio album Petite Afrique, which also won an

  NAACP Image Award, tells the story of the vibrant African immigrant community in midst

  of a rapidly gentrifying Harlem in New York City and was the highly anticipated follow-

  up to Somi's major label debut, The Lagos Music Salon. This fall, she will debut on

  Broadway in the title role a new play called “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” by Joceyln

  Bioh.

  Closely mentored by the legendary trumpet player Hugh Masekela, Somi has carved out her

  own path as an artist, scholar, and activist. A recipient of the 2023 Doris Duke Artist Award,

  Somi is also a Soros Equality Fellow, a United States Artist Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, a

  Sundance Theatre Fellow, and a former artist-in-residence at Park Avenue Armory, Captiva

  at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and UCLA’s Center for

  the Art of Performance. She is also the founder of Salon Africana, a boutique cultural agency

  and record label. Often celebrated for the socio- political messages inherent to her original

  songwriting, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asked Somi to perform at the United Nations’

  General Assembly in commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the

  Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Somi holds undergraduate degrees in

  Cultural Anthropology and African Studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-

  Champaign, a Master’s degree in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at New

  York University, and is currently working on her PhD at Harvard University’s Department

  of Music. In her heart of hearts, she is an East African Midwestern girl who loves family,

  poetry, and freedom.