By Kharisma McIlwaine
Somi is a Grammy and Tony-nominated singer, songwriter, and actress whose soulful voice and genre-blending artistry have captivated audiences worldwide. With a sound that effortlessly fuses jazz, soul, and African influences, she has established herself as a bold and innovative voice in contemporary music. Beyond her critically acclaimed albums and making history as the first African woman to be nominated for a Grammy in a jazz category, Somi has also made waves in theater as the first East African artist to appear on Broadway.
Most recently, she has earned recognition for her powerful performance and compelling storytelling in the Tony award winning production “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” where she played the title character. Whether through her evocative original compositions or her dynamic stage presence, she continues to push artistic boundaries while celebrating her heritage and advocating for social change. Somi spoke with the SUN about her journey in music and her upcoming performance at the Perelman Theater as part of Ensemble Arts Philly’s Jazz Series.
A Chicago native, Somi forged her artistic identity through a revelation born of self-discovery. Growing up as a first-generation American of Rwandan-Ugandan heritage, she didn’t initially view singing as a realistic career.
“I didn’t plan on doing this thing, I didn’t think that it was an option for me.” Somi said. “I just didn’t know it was an option for real life. I didn’t know people who were professional musicians. I didn’t see that example in my family. Everybody was in academia or medicine… so I really didn’t see it as a career path.”
“My family is originally from East Africa,” She continued. “I grew up in the Midwest and I was so preoccupied with figuring out my identity because as a first generation American you feel very torn between two cultures. A lot of my academic and personal interests were very focused on culture, identity and ‘who am I?’ After college, I moved to East Africa for a year and a half and I felt like I finally found who I was as both an African and as an American. It’s like once I was able to put a lot of those questions down, then suddenly the thing that was standing in front of me was music. Then it was just like, oh, it’s actually music that I would love to do.”
Guided by her newfound clarity, Somi moved to New York where she began immersing herself in voice lessons. Eventually jazz became her language of self-expression.
“When I first started out, a lot of people were discouraging me from doing things in African languages, leaning into African music. Whether you’re making music or writing language or whatever it is, you have to honor all of yourself in the craft and in making it. You know, I think jazz was not something I had set out to be a part of. I remember the first time I really heard it. I remember hearing “Moonlight in Vermont” by Ella Fitzgerald in my car when I was driving around campus. It took my breath away…I was like, this is extraordinary. It’s magical. I just remember being so moved by it in that moment” she shared.
“The thing that I love about jazz, and I think the thing that has allowed jazz to be a kind of economy in which I can work and operate and somehow make space for myself inside of it… is Jazz is always seen as this open-minded genre. So, when you come in as somebody with African sensibilities and Western, soul or R&B sensibilities it’s this blend. It asks these other kinds of non-traditional questions about what music making might be. Jazz is oftentimes where a lot of that music is placed because it’s outside of a linear categorizing of things. I think it’s also a certain type of freedom in improvisation. I always think about jazz as a metaphor for my life. I’ve had to improvise. As a first generation American growing up in the Midwest, I had to improvise. I had to be able to code switch between spaces, cultural and social and otherwise. I had to also find a way to put African music inside of Western music and vice versa. All of this requires a certain type of improvisational practice. That is something that is heralded explicitly like really lifted up and encouraged in the jazz space. It’s really just about freedom and improvisation and a blending of ideas in a space that’s open-minded.”
Few artists move as fluidly between worlds as Somi, commanding musical spaces and Broadway stages with equal authority.
“It doesn’t always feel seamless and like I’m just floating even though it is an intentional choice,” Somi said. “I make the intentional choice of like I want to do theater, you know, because I love theater. For me, I’m really just interested in storytelling and particular types of stories. I think I just always want to be kind of in a posture, a stance of humility to learn from another discipline… to stretch into discipline. It was intimidating to do a play without music. I love to perform. I enjoy acting, but it was intimidating. There’s something else that I discovered in that process. I went in saying, I want to learn from this. I want to humble myself to whatever the journey is and to learn from these other actors and also to be the collaborator. I hope that throughout my career [I] journey not just as an artist, but as a human being that I’m always open to things that scare me, things that challenge me, and then I come away from it having learned something. So, what I learned from that and what I hope I learned from everything is music is everywhere.”
Somi’s upcoming performance in Philadelphia promises audiences a musical trip through her eclectic discography.
“I’m going to be sharing a range of things. I’ll share some stuff from my latest album, my “Makeba” tribute album from 2022. There’ll be a range of things from my repertoire and also possibly some new songs from my forthcoming album. I’m excited to be back in Philly. I always have a great time. I always feel very, Philly’s a city I feel very understood even though I have no long standing like relationship there. You know, like I’ve never lived there but I always feel like, I don’t know, like Philly’s the city that there’s a particular energy that I really enjoy from the audience and the city itself. So, I’m looking forward to it.”
Somi will be performing at Perelman Theater tonight, Friday May 9th at 7:30pm as part of Ensemble Arts Philly’s Jazz Series. For more information visit www.ensembleartsphilly.org.
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