Somi at SOPAC

Vocalist, composer, actor, and playwright Somi Kakoma (SOMI) is the daughter of immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Her fifth studio album, Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba, serves as a companion project to the critically acclaimed original musical Dreaming Zenzile that SOMI wrote, starring in the Off-Broadway production, as a tribute to the great South African singer and activist. Her 2020 release Holy Room, featuring the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, earned her a 2021 Grammy® nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album and made her the first African woman ever nominated in any of the Grammy® jazz categories.

SOMI is a recipient of the 2023 Doris Duke Artist Award, two NAACP Image Awards for Best Vocal Jazz Album, and the inaugural Jazz Music Award for Best Vocal Performance. She is also a Soros Equality Fellow, a United States Artist Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, a Sundance Theatre Fellow, and the founder of Salon Africana – a boutique cultural agency and record label. Recently, she made her Broadway debut in the title role of the critically acclaimed new play “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” by Joceyln Bioh.

SOMI holds degrees in Cultural Anthropology and African Studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master’s degree in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU; she’s currently pursuing 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.