Somi is an American singer & songwriter of Rwandan and Ugandan descent.
Somi was born in Champaign, Illinois while her father was completing post-doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When Somi was three years old, her family then moved to Ndola, Zambia while her father worked for the World Health Organization. They returned to Champaign, Illinois in the late 1980s when her father became a professor at the University of Illinois. Subsequently, Somi spent the rest of her childhood in Champaign where she attended both University Laboratory High School and Champaign Central High School, and earned her undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and African Studies from the University of Illinois. Somi also holds a Master's degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in Performance Studies.
Known in music industry circles for her tenacity and business acumen, Somi's original and hybrid sound began to garner international attention from both jazz and world music audiences. She calls this fusion of an African flavor into Jazz as “New African Jazz”.[1] In 2007, SanaaHouse Productions licensed Somi's Red Soil In My Eyes to the Harmonia Mundi/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.[2] Her label debut "If The Rains Come First" released in North America on October 27, 2009 and subsequently debuted at #2 on Billboard Magazine's World Music Chart and #21 on Billboard Magazine's Heatseekers Chart. The album features Somi's long-time mentor, the legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela 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. It was released on Palmetto Records in August 2011.
In 2011, Somi was named a TED Global Fellow and an inaugural Association of Performing Arts Presenters Fellow. She is also the founder of the award-winning non-profit organization New Africa Live.
She currently lives between Lagos, Nigeria and New York City.