Somi
Bio
Born in Illinois to immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda, vocalist & songwriter Somi has built a career of transatlantic sonicism and storytelling. Her work straddles the worlds of African jazz, soul, and pop, and JazzTimes Magazine has described her live performances as “the earthy gutsiness of Nina Simone blended with the vocal beauty of Dianne Reeves.” Somi is a 2018 USA Doris Duke Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, an inaugural Association of Performing Arts Presenters Fellow, and a United States Artists Fellow, among others. She is also the founder of New Africa Live, a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the best of contemporary African artists working in the performance, visual, and literary arts.