Carnegie Hall

Vocalist, composer, and playwright Somi Kakoma was born in Illinois to immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Known in the jazz world simply as Somi, she has built a career of transatlantic storytelling. Earlier this year, she released Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba, an all-star salute to the great “Mama Africa” that features Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Gregory Porter, Thandiswa Mazwai, and Angélique Kidjo. The album was a companion project to Dreaming Zenzile, the critically acclaimed original musical Somi penned and starred in Off-Broadway and in theaters across the country. Described by The New York Times as “a virtuosic performer in full command of her instrument and powers,” Somi celebrated the release of both projects with a historic concert at the legendary Apollo Theater in commemoration of what would have been Makeba’s 90th birthday.

Prior to Zenzile, 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 earned a 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album and 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 the midst of a rapidly gentrifying Harlem. It was the highly anticipated follow-up to her major label debut, The Lagos Music Salon.

Closely mentored by legendary trumpeter Hugh Masekela, Somi has forged her own path as an artist, scholar, and activist. She is a Soros Equality Fellow, a USA Doris Duke Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, a Sundance Theatre Fellow, and a former artist in residence at Park Avenue Armory, 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 her activism, Somi was asked by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to perform at the United Nations General Assembly for 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 the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a master’s in performance studies from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She is pursuing her doctorate at Harvard University’s Department of Music.

In her heart of hearts, Somi is an East African Midwestern girl who loves family, poetry, and freedom.