Laura Kabasomi Kakoma (born on June 6, 1981), known by her stage name Somi, is a
Grammy-nominated American-born
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
,
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 ...
,
playwright, and
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
of
Rwandan and
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
n descent. Somi is the first
African woman to be nominated for a Grammy Award in a Jazz category.
Biography
Somi was born in
Champaign, Illinois
Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...
, while her father was completing post-doctoral studies at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
. When Somi was three years old, her family then moved to
Ndola, Zambia, while her father worked for the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
. In the late 1980s when her father became a professor at the University of Illinois, they returned to Champaign, where Somi attended both
University Laboratory High School and
Champaign Central High School
Champaign Central High School is a high school located in Champaign, Illinois. It has 1,385 students in grades 9- 12. The principal is Joe Williams. It is part of the Champaign Unit 4 School District school system. Its sports teams are the Cen ...
. She earned her undergraduate degrees in
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 be ...
and African Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She also holds a Master's degree from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
's
Tisch School of the Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
in Performance Studies.
In 2007, she licensed her independently recorded album ''Red Soil in My Eyes'' to the
Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group.
Its Latin name ''harm ...
/World Village label for her first international distribution deal. The record received wide critical acclaim with the hit single "Ingele" that maintained a Top 10 position on U.S. World Music Charts for several months.
In 2009, Somi signed with independent record label
ObliqSound
ObliqSound is a record label in New York City.
It was founded by Tobias Tanner, Michele Locatelli, and Ralf Schmid. They studied music together at the New School in Manhattan. Their intent with Obliqsound is to produce musicians with a background ...
. Her label debut ''If the Rains Come First'' was released in North America on October 27, 2009, and subsequently debuted at no. 2 on ''
Billboard''s World Music Chart and no. 21 on ''Billboard''s Heatseekers Chart. The album features South African trumpeter
Hugh Masekela
Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...
, Somi's long-time mentor, as a guest on one track. In March 2011, Somi recorded her first live concert album at the legendary Jazz Standard in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. It was released on
Palmetto Records in August 2011.
In 2013, Somi signed her first major label deal with
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...
to become one of the first artists on their relaunched historic jazz imprint
Okeh Records. Her album and major label debut ''The Lagos Music Salon'', which features Grammy-winning special guests
Angelique Kidjo and
Common and debuted at #1 on US Jazz Charts, was inspired by an 18-month sabbatical she took in Lagos, Nigeria. On the heels of much critical acclaim and a rapidly growing fan base, ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' and other publications dubbed Somi "the new
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blu ...
". In March 2017, she released ''Petite Afrique'' as her second album on Okeh Records. The album, which won a 2018
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album, is a song cycle about the large West African immigrant community in Harlem, New York City in the face of rapid gentrification. It features special guest
Aloe Blacc
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally by his stage name Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known for his singles " I Need a Dollar", " The Man", which topped the charts in t ...
.
In July 2020, Somi released 'Holy Room - Live at Alte Oper' on her own label Salon Africana. The live album, which also features
Frankfurt Radio Big Band, was nominated for a 2021
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album
The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works (songs or albums) in the vocal jazz ...
and won the 2021
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album, Vocal.
Somi’s first original play, ''Dreaming Zenzile'', is a musical based on the life of
Miriam Makeba
Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including Afropop, jazz, and world music, she w ...
. It premiered at
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in September 2021 after the original production was shut down five days before opening night in March 2020 due to the
Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. She released a tribute album dedicated to Makeba, ''Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba'' (2022). As a writer and actor, Somi also uses her last name and goes by Somi Kakoma.
Somi is a
TED Senior Fellow, a
United States Artists
United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards.
Mission
The organization' ...
Fellow, a Soros Equality Fellow,
and a
Sundance Theatre Fellow.
Somi currently lives in New York City.
Discography
* ''Eternal Motive'' (2003)
* ''Red Soil in My Eyes'' (2007)
* ''If the Rain Comes First'' (2009)
* ''Somi: Live at Jazz Standard'' (2011)
* ''The Lagos Music Salon'' (2014)
* ''Petite Afrique'' (2017)
* ''Holy Room - Live at Alte Oper'' (2020)
*''Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba'' (2022)
References
Further reading
External links
Official Website"The dancer, the singer, the cellist ... and a moment of creative magic" (TED2015)
{{Authority control
1979 births
Living people
American jazz singers
American people of Rwandan descent
American people of Ugandan descent
Musicians from Champaign, Illinois
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Jazz musicians from Illinois
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers