Citing the local state of emergency prompted by the spread of the coronavirus, The Rep has canceled all performances and events beginning Monday, March 16 through the end of the season. "Dreaming Zenzile," which is tentatively scheduled to have its world premiere this summer at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, is at once a showcase and a tribute. Written by Somi Kakoma - who also stars under her stage name, Somi - the Mainstage musical is likely to introduce the rising jazz and world-music star to a wider audience. And it will spotlight the life and career of one of her idols: legendary South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba. "Dreaming Zenzile" promises to be a spirited celebration of the artist fondly known as "Mama Africa" - and one that will raise her profile once again.       Photo by Georgios Kefalas READ THE FULL St. Louis Post-Dispatch ARTICLE

If you made a New Year's resolution to get out of the house and see more live music in 2019, you've come to the right place. Forget about the winter doldrums, the Bay Area is brimming with brilliant music, and January's offerings bode well for a decade-closing run of beautiful, transporting, strange, and wonderful sounds. The daughter of East African immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda, Brooklyn jazz vocalist Somi has collaborated widely with West African musicians, most conspicuously on 2014's The Lagos Music Salon (OKeh). With 2017's Petite Afrique (Sony/OKeh Records), the soul-steeped singer looks closer to home with a song cycle exploring the lives of African immigrants in the United States. Touring the West Coast, she plays Oakland's New Parish on her only Bay Area date ( January 13 ) with a stellar band featuring pianist Toru Dodo, bassist Jahmal Nichols, and drummer Otis Brown III (best known his extensive work with tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano's Us Five). READ THE FULL SFCV ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px}

Singer-songwriter Somi, pays tribute to the South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela (4.4.39 -1.23.18) I first met Hugh Masekela in June 2005. He had just finished an electrifying set at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn. We, who seemed like all of New York, were floating en masse toward our respective roadways, trains and taxis, his melodies still swirling in the backs of our ears. A smaller crowd was gathering around the VIP tent entrance, and I saw him-a man whose personality always outmeasured his stature. Greeting everyone as if they were old friends. Looking you square in the eye and disarming you with laughter so warm you thought you were old friends, too. No handshakes, only hugs. READ THE FULL JazzTimes ARTICLE   p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Jazz, classical and African music enthusiasts in Kigali will tomorrow be treated to an evening of live artistic and world-class Jazz by US-based Rwandan vocalist and songwriter Somi. Currently on a tour of East Africa where she has an active and participatory following, the singer says she is especially proud to perform in Rwanda and to be associated with local artists and talent. "I am excited and honored to perform once again in beautiful Kigali, the city I call home, in Remarkable Rwanda, a nation from which I draw inspiration," Somi's album, Petite Afrique (loosely translated as 'Little Africa'), won the award in the category of Outstanding Jazz Album of the Year at the 49th NAACP Image Awards beating off competition from Damien Escobar's 'Boundless', Cécile McLorin Salvant's 'Dreams and Daggers', Najee's 'Poetry In Motion', and Preservation Hall Jazz Band's 'So It Is'. READ THE FULL The New Times | Rwanda ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Somi tells stories with music. This American Midwesterner and daughter of East African parents was effectively born into narrative, and into an inevitable quest for identity. She moved to New York some years back, and began to develop a self-styled career as a singer/songwriter. Somi's sound is tricky to classify. In a recent interview with Afropop's Akornefa Akyea, she embraces the tag "new African jazz," because jazz seems to imply a level of freedom that suits her genre-bending idiosyncrasies. Since the release of Somi's 2014 album, The Lagos Music Salon, a song cycle chronicling an 18-month stay in Lagos, Nigeria, she has truly found her way as an artist, not just a wonderful singer and creative composer, but someone who can bring all the forces of her complex life together to make larger statements. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} Petite Afrique celebrates the lives of West Africans in Harlem by incorporating voices and sounds Somi recorded there while researching the album. We hear from a Senegalese taxi driver who touts his people's entrepreneurship and work ethic and bemoans the sentiments of those who say, as the interlude's title puts it, "Go Back to Your Country." And there's the clatter of djembe drums on a Harlem street woven into the closing miasma of the album's final piece, "The Gentry," which also features evocative jazz vocals from renaissance man Aloe Blacc: "Look what they've done to Harlem!" READ THE FULL afropop ARTICLE

On the next JAZZ AMERICA program from the Voice of America, SHOWS #1869-1870...24-25 JUNE 2017, join Russ Davis as he talks with Andre Menard & Alain Menard, the founders of the Montreal Jazz Festival that celebrates its 38th year in 2017. We'll talk to these two visionaries and hear music from some of the artists who'll play the festival this year including Diana Krall, Stanley Clarke, Ingrid & Christine Jensen, Christian McBride, John Pizzarelli and many more, on the next Jazz America.  JAZZ AMERICA...SHOW #1869…24-25 JUNE 2017  DIANA KRALL…I'll see you in my dreams (turn up the quiet)  INGRID & CHRISTINE JENSEN…old time (infinitude)  * Andre Menard & Alain Menard Interview  RAY CHARLES ORCHESTRA…ghana (zurich 1961)  DeJOHNETTE, SCOFIELD, MEDESKI & GRENADIER…up on cripple creek (hudson)  TONY ALLEN…drum thunder suite (tribute to art blakey)  JOHN PIZZARELLI…let ‘em in (midnight mccartney)   * Andre Menard & Alain Menard Interview  CHRISTIAN McBRIDE TRIO…car wash (live at the village vanguard  NICHOLAS PAYTON…kimathi-cotton gin & tonic (afro Caribbean mixtape)  BILL FRISELL-psycho pt. 1 (when you wish upon a star)    JAZZ AMERICA...SHOW #1870…24-25 JUNE 2017  THE BAD PLUS…big eater (live at bonnaroo)  BRIA SKONBERG…go tell it (into your own)  * Andre Menard & Alain Menard Interview  NEIL COWLEY TRIO…rooster was a witness (live at montreux 2012  KURT ROSENWINKEL…chromatic b (caipi)  ROBERT GLASPER EXPERIMENT…in my mind (artscience)  STANLEY CLARKE BAND…lopsy lu (live at the 2010 new orleans jazz festival)  SOMI…let me (petite afrique)   * Andre Menard & Alain Menard Interview  ROBERTO FONSECA…cubano chant (ABUC)  VIJAY IYER…revolutions (reimagining)  PAT METHENY…broadway blues (live at the 1982 montreal jazz festival) 

Voice of America - Jazz America is heard by an estimated audience of 40 million listeners worldwide each weekend on the entertainment service VOA1, online and via local radio affiliates around the world. 
    *Jazz America airs online at the follow sites and airtimes:  It is heard live online on the Global English feed     (https://www.voanews.com/a/3878432.html)  Hour 1 - Saturday 1300 UTC/Hour 2 Sunday 1300 UTC  VOA1 - The Hits  Saturday…0500 - 0700 UTC       1000 - 1200 UTC  Sunday…0700 - 0900, 1300 - 1500 UTC and 2000 - 2200 UTC  VOA Africa Stream  (https://www.voanews.com/a/3880678.html)  Saturday…0700 - 0900 UTC  Sunday…1000 - 1200 UTC 

​The last time we heard from Somi, she had released an entire LP album about Lagos, her fifth. Titled The Lagos Music Salon, it energised Lagos in unimaginable ways, giving us the most resplendent and contemporary outsider reflection of the acoustic salad that makes up the coastal West African Megacity. Somi is back. This time she hits closer to home. Even though she is African (of both Rwandan and Ugandan descent), she spent her formative years in America and currently lives in New York. She calls her latest body of work, Petite Afrique, a sonic exploration of Harlem, a place inhabited by Africans and African-Americans alike. READ THE FULL Olisa Blogazine ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

Pulsing with Harlem's rhythms and sonic ambiance, Somi's Petite Afrique is an homage to her New York City upper Manhattan neighborhood, and one of the Meccas of the African diaspora.  In the village of Harlem, along west 116th Street from Malcolm X Boulevard to Frederick Douglass Boulevard, African immigrants build American lives. Populated predominantly by a Francophone, West African and Muslim community, this is a strip of Harlem that locals call "Little Africa" or "Petite Afrique:" a thriving corridor of hair shops and shea butters, bistros and self-taught tailors.  Many of these working class residents - immigrants-cum-citizens - are now taxi drivers zipping other New Yorkers through the city they've called home since the 1980s.  SEE THE anima Jazz PAGE

Pulsing with Harlem's rhythms and sonic ambiance, Somi's Petite Afrique is an homage to her New York City upper Manhattan neighborhood, and one of the Meccas of the African diaspora.  In the village of Harlem, along west 116th Street from Malcolm X Boulevard to Frederick Douglass Boulevard, African immigrants build American lives. Populated predominantly by a Francophone, West African and Muslim community, this is a strip of Harlem that locals call "Little Africa" or "Petite Afrique:" a thriving corridor of hair shops and shea butters, bistros and self-taught tailors.  Many of these working class residents - immigrants-cum-citizens - are now taxi drivers zipping other New Yorkers through the city they've called home since the 1980s.  Somi spoke with WFPK: Louisville - Kyle Meredith about the album's themes and songwriting. LISTEN & WATCH THE VIDEO

This is Somi's fifth release, and it follows the fabulous "The Lagos Music Salon" which depicted thoughts on the African Diaspora. This one is even stronger, continuing on the same theme, but with more textures and sub plots. Her voice has an incredible wide range of depth, sometimes going almost sub toned like a luscious Sarah Vaughan, or folksy and rural a la Cassandra Wilson. As far as the themes relate, Somi touches on the rarely discussed life of the aging a of Harlem on the clever "The Gentry" along with vocalist Aloe Blacc and a horn section including Jaleel Shaw/as, Marcus Strickland/ts and Etienne Charles/tp. Also intriguing is her reflections of being an African in "Afro-American" New  York on "Black Enough" and "Alien." The moods mix from modern jazz to rich strings with exotic dashes as on "Kadiatou the Beautiful" while "They're Like Ghosts" tells a tale of love and worlds colliding. Voice and programming make up a couple tunes such as "The Wild One" and "Disappearing Act" making the album almost feel like an audible play being acted out. Fascinating! SEE THE Jazz Weekly PAGE

Somi is a study in cosmopolitanism. Born in Illinois to Rwandan and Ugandan parents, she spent a few years in New York before moving to Nigeria to record The Lagos Music Salon. The standout single from that album, "Ginger Me Slowly," gained traction after it was featured on the BET network melodrama Being Mary Jane. The song beautifully fuses organic soul with jazz undertones; its title is an East African expression that means, "to spice someone up and make them feel good." "Ginger Me Slowly" accomplishes that objective and more, as it wraps a sublimely structured melody around Somi's beautiful, elegant voice - a reaffirmation of music's power to uplift, captivate and inspire. Somi's 'Ginger Me Slowly' makes NPR's 'Heavy Rotation' - 10 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing

American vocalist and songwriter Somi combines the music of her African heritage with American-style jazz, pop and soul. After her parents left Rwanda and Uganda, Somi spent 18 months living in Lagos, Nigeria; that time provided the inspiration for her 2014 album - The Lagos Music Salon. The Lagos Music Salon marks Somi's major label debut for Sony's OKeh Records and features a range of originals that are sublimely melodic, percussively textured.  A socially informed and adventurous vocalist, Somi sings with a soulful beauty about her experiences in Lagos. While there, she kept a journal of her observations and collaborated with a community of musicians, writers and artists who helped her to envision what would become The Lagos Music Salon. On this episode of Song Travels, Somi and host Michael Feinstein discuss the cultural roots of her music. She performs her original "Last Song" and joins Feinstein for "Embraceable You." LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT

From Mike Ragogna's interview with Somi MR: Somi, after speaking to your Uncle Hugh Masekela, you decided that you wanted to go to Lagos, Nigeria, that trip inspiring your new album The Lagos Music Salon. Did you have any idea of what was going to happen after that or were you just going to Lagos for discovery? Somi: I was definitely just going to discover. I had always been interested in seeing what it might be like to live and work on the African continent. How it might impact my lyrical and musical inspiration. It was really Uncle Hugh who gave me the courage and reminded me of the global citizenship of musicians. We shouldn't overthink something in terms of a move, and then we start thinking of the logistics, the production, the finances. He said you can go and just decide to spend time with a part of your audience and a part of the world and then always come right back if and when you feel ready. I decided to stop talking about it and just go. I had this soft landing through the extension of a former graduate advisor of mine at New York University, a professor there by the name of Awam Ampka, who is also Nigerian and has been in the US for a number of years, now tenured at Tisch. He was starting an international artist residency program and I took him up on the offer to go for a minimum of 7 weeks. I used that time to kind of explore the city, the country and my heart to see if it seemed like the right place for me to be at that time. I decided once I got there that I would stay through the end of the following year. I moved there in September 2011 and the plan was to stay until December 2012. Once I was there, I stayed for 18 months until 2013.  READ THE FULL HuffPost INTERVIEW

...but that voice. No matter how many times you listen to this record and walk away, each time you come back, you're met with that reality: ...but that voice. You can quibble with Somi's The Lagos Music Salon being more of a jazz record than an R&B record, but why split hairs? When you create a set of songs this good, the act of genre classification is transcended. It doesn't really matter which box you try to pack this stuff in; all that's relevant is the pure quality, and in this case the pure quality is undeniable. "Last Song", a surefire candidate for Most Delicate Song Of The Year, is everything a great tune should be: passionate, affecting, irresistible, poignant, and versatile. So much so that by the time the second half kicks in, you can't help but wipe away the tears that first movement brings in order to get a clear vision of the dance floor. "Ginger Me Slowly" kind of sounds like Jill Scott wrote it and then two A-list collaborators pop up to cement this record's place among the year's best as Common offers up a peaceful verse on "When Rivers Cry" and Ambrose Akinmusire, who released his own viable candidate for Album Of The Year in 2014, adds dashes of trumpet in "Brown Round Things". Jazz. World. Rhythm and Blues. Soul. Hip-Hop. Funk. Reggae. Caribbean. The Lagos Music Salon belongs in all of those categories for a plethora of reasons, not the least of which being-you guessed it-the feather-like, angelically passionate voice that Somi is blessed with. Argue all you want about placement, but in the end it all comes back to the same three words: ...but that voice. http://images.popmatters.com/rating_circle_full.pngColin McGuire

Somi's African jazz and soul music truly embraces her heritage, her roots, her people and her experience. Her songs are more than performances - they are confession, confirmation and exaltation. An 18-month stay in Lagos, Nigeria inspired by her interest in the nuances of African culture led to her Sony Masterworks release - The Lagos Music Salon. The singer has always been interested in supporting authenticity and originality in music. In 2008 she launched her own nonprofit organization, New Africa Live, with the mission of developing emerging artists and helping the world reimagine and celebrate modern African music, art and expression. Through her organization, Somi produces an annual concert series and plans to expand the series into a larger exposition of African artists. READ THE FULL Radiant Health Magazine FEATURE HERE

The daughter of immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda, Somi recently moved from New York City to Lagos, Nigeria, for 18 months, an experience that inspired this major label debut, The Lagos Music Salon. She's lived in Africa before, and her music has the depth and sophistication you might expect from someone so worldly, with a potent blend of African rhythms, jazz harmonies, and richly-layered vocal harmonies. At the same time, the songs Somi crafts with various co-writers could be described as catchy soul-flavored pop, especially on the stand-out tracks at the beginning of the record. As accessible as Sade (whose voice Somi sometimes recalls), "Love Juju #1" is sultry and seductive. Featuring Angélique Kidjo, "Lady Revisited" lights up with some funky Afropop rhythms. "Ginger Me" is a sweet and sexy love song with heartmelting lyrics while "Akobi: First Born S(u)n" boasts a beautiful melody and (like many cuts) benefits from the pointillistic guitar of Liberty Ellman and the taut bass lines of Michael Olatuja. A clean recording does a nice job of staging varied instrumentation in a detailed yet uncluttered fashion. There are soul, jazz, pop, and world music fans aplenty who would embrace this music, and hopefully it will get the exposure it deserves.

The warm musical wind that swept through late summer was the lush creation of a singer named Somi. Her recording, The Lagos Music Salon, is the kind of album that is rare today; a complete experience that evokes a place, an environment, a culture, and a group of people. The Lagos Music Salon pulses with African rhythms, absolutely, but it's equally centered around the kind of storytelling you might find in a Paul Simon song, the soulful singing of a Stevie Wonder song, and the improvisational adventure of jazz. Equally appropriate for careful listening or a hip party on a Saturday night, this is the kind of music that leaps so smoothly across boundaries as to make categories irrelevant. Will Layman spoke with Somi about her new album, her musical origins, and how she came to be a jazz singer who is not really a jazz singer at all. READ THE FULL PopMatters INTERVIEW.

Somi interviews with Ebony Magazine and explains the origins of her new OKeh album - The Lagos Music Salon. Developed out of a sojourn to Lagos, Nigeria, the release reflects new musical directions in Somi's work. When planning the trip, she did not intend to make a record, but her scheduled seven week stay turned into a year and a half long period of inspiration, learning, and artistic development. Somi hopes her new release will encourage listeners to learn more about Africa and its rich culture. "Lagos gave me so much," she says. "Africa inspires me and is always going to be the central point of my work, and hopefully what I'm doing empowers Africa." READ THE FULL Ebony INTERVIEW HERE

On her maiden voyage concert to promote her latest exotic album, Lagos Music Salon, Somi bridged the gap between American jazz and African sounds. Jazz Weekly's George Harris sat down with Somi before her thrilling set at the Blue Whale on Tuesday night, September 16. Somi is joined by Teaming up with Liberty Elleman/g, Ben Williams/b, Otis Brown III/dr and Toru Dodo/p.  READ THE FULL Jazz Weekly REVIEW

Somi is a singer and songwriter. She was born in Illinois to East African parents, and in 2011 she moved from New York to live and work in Lagos, Nigeria, for a while. This album is the result. I've always loved West African music and thought there was much more potential to mix it up with jazz, but the "snobbishness" of the world music critics meant that such amalgams were frowned upon – I seem to remember some pretty sniffy responses when Salif Keita brought Joe Zawinul in to work on his album Amen. I'm not sure they would think much of this – far too slick, far too sophisticated! And, like Amen, rather good, actually. It takes a certain kind of chutzpah to rework Fela Kuti's Lady – Somi calls it Lady Revisited and Anqelique Kidjo is a guest – and Nina Simone's Four Women – she calls it Four African Women. The many originals – this is a generously lengthy disc with 18 tracks – are immediately attractive and hook their way into the musical memory. Ankara Sundays and Ginger Me Slowly are  particularly seductive, and Akobi: First Born S(u)n is brimful of Afro-American sunshine. Still Your Girl has a great counter-intuitive piano/bass riff in amongst a lush arrangement. READ THE FULL Jazz Breakfast REVIEW.

To most people, the junction of New York and Lagos, Nigeria may not seem like a natural place for an album to take shape. Somi, thankfully, thought otherwise. This worldly and well-traveled vocalist makes it seem like the most natural of meeting points on The Lagos Music Salon.

Somi's music has always been informed by African, R&B and soul influences, but an eighteen month stay in Lagos helped her dig deeper into the African cultural soil than she ever had before. The resultant album, powerful, cool, vibrant, sly and lively all at once, could be considered the latest and most developed strain of "New African Jazz" that she's produced yet: that's a term Somi herself coined to describe her music a while back, but it fits this one like a glove. READ THE FULL All About Jazz REVIEW.

East African vocalist and songwriter Somi embarks on a short tour next month, introducing her new record The Lagos Music Salon, which features Angelique Kidjo and Common. She'll talk with Jay Edwards about it on WCLK: Jazz Tones on Saturday, August 16th between 2-6p as Jay takes his weekly musical journey through world-jazz. Tune into Atlanta's WCLK: Jazz Tones this Saturday to hear the interview with Somi.

It's hard to decide what is most exciting about The Lagos Music Salon, the major label debut of Illinois-born, East African singer-songwriter Somi-her exquisite voice or the emotional intensity of her poetic lyrics. With a voice that has been compared with the likes of Nina Simone and Miriam Makeba, Somi's music reflects both her passion for her African heritage and her jazz background. She can write socially conscious songs with political messages, and she can write a deceptively simple love song. The new album is filled with both. READ THE FULL Blogcritics.org REVIEW.

There's something so warm about East African artist Somi. Her voice, presence and demeanor is so inviting. When we first heard her music, we were enlightened by her worldly sound, that can be attributed to her Jazz and African roots. Her compelling lyrics, that incorporate topics ranging from female empowerment to love, are beautifully crafted on her major label debut, "The Lagos Music Salon." The new album?captures the essence and feel of Lagos both musically and lyrically. READ THE FULL Hello Beautiful INTERVIEW HERE

When you hear Somi's globe-spanning music, you can hear her past come to life. Born in Illinois, Somi travelled the world as the daughter of Ugandan and Rwandan parents -- one a diplomat, and the other an educator with the World Health Organization. Now as a musician, the singer has collaborated with an array of artists around the world: John Legend, Hugh Masekela, Angelique Kidjo, Baaba Maal and Paul Simon. And last year, she performed at the United Nations at the invitation of Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon. After her father died, Somi decided to spend 18 months in Nigeria, seeking out the cultural vibrancy of Lagos, which she has said reminded her of the creative energy of New York. While there, she maintained a journal, recorded sounds, and collected musical ideas on a pocket digital voice recorder. Once she returned home to New York, those sketches became the backbone for her latest album, The Lagos Music Salon. Throughout Lagos, Somi's songs touch on American jazz, African rhythms and R&B, especially as she updates songs from Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti ("Lady Revisited") and soul singer Nina Simone ("Four African Women") with themes of global politics and social activism, and the struggles and strength of women in Africa. And when coupled with ambient street sounds and snippets of random conversations, Somi not only adds extra texture to the music, but infuses her songs with a true sense of place. Even as she proudly displays her influences, Somi delivers a unique and personal musical statement. Listen to Somi perform in-studio on New York's WNYC: Soundcheck.

Somi, The Lagos Music Salon: Somi has one of the most alluring voices on the scene today. It's the kind of thing where her voice can take a mediocre song and make it something better. On her newest, there are some moments like that. Resulting from her move from NYC to Lagos in the search for new creative inspirations, this sprawling album reflects the goal of breaking down old boundaries and exploring new directions. An updated soul jazz recording, Somi hits sounds that reflect a number of influences, and looks forward as often as it harkens back to more classic sounds. Somi is joined by her core band of drummer Otis Brown III, pianist Toru Dodo, guitarist Liberty Ellman, bassist Michael Olatuja, background vocalist Alicia Alatuja, and a variety of guest artists (including strings). As with any creative reboot, there's going to be some hits and misses, but as mentioned previously, even those "misses" feature Somi's gorgeous voice, so it's pretty easy to highly recommend her newest. Both parts one and two of "Love JuJu" are cheerfully catchy, and "Last Song" is just plain lovely, but "Brown Round Things," featuring guest trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, is just plain stunning. Somi's Live at the Jazz Standard is the recording that got me hooked on her voice and vision.-Dave Sumner

I'm old-fashioned about summer. There ought to be lemonade. There ought to be an ice cream truck roaming the neighborhood. Kids should be barreling toward the neighborhood pool or swimming hole. Let it be hot. And there ought to be some music you can't get out of your head, something catchy on the radio maybe, or just an album that you started listening to in June that you still can't get enough of in August. It's the soundtrack to your steamy afternoons or windows open car rides. And, sure, there was a time when that music was AM radio, pop songs, and three-chord wonders. But for me this summer it's The Lagos Music Salon, a recording by American-born singer Somi-a big, sumptuous collection of African / jazz / soul grooves that is so satisfying, fun, and enlightening to listen to that it might still be summer come November. I know I'll still be listening to this disc when the weather grows colder. READ THE FULL PopMatters REVIEW.

Cross-genre jazz vocalist Somi moved from New York to live in Lagos, Nigeria, and then came back with the stories and sensibilities that inform her vividly conceived, kaleidoscopic fourth record. The Illinois native of Rwandan and Ugandan descent brings a keen sense of narrative and a wonderfully diverse musical mix, infused with intricate rhythms, jazz, and a taste of juju, to this sprawling 18-song set. Augmented by a lucid ensemble and special guests (Angelique Kidjo, Common), Somi delivers vocal performances of striking tonal clarity and expressiveness, shedding light on the lives of the people of Lagos by delving into their struggles, pain, pride, and joys. These tracks feel fully lived in - this is not a tourist's snapshot of a culture. The singer-songwriter wrestles with socio-economic issues throughout: "Two Dollar Day" examines the plight of domestic workers, while "When Rivers Cry" laments environmental destruction. Despite a need for editing, the disc is a sustained triumph, displaying rich musicality, a sharp pop sense, and rare sophistication.-KEN CAPOBIANCO

Somi is a jazz singer and songwriter currently based in New York City. Banning Eyre reviews her latest album, The Lagos Music Salon, a collection of songs composed while she lived in Lagos, Nigeria. LISTEN TO THE NPR: All Things Considered REVIEW.

You could think of Somi as the quintessential artist citizen of the world. Born in Illinois to parents of Uganda and Rwanda, she traveled world as a child, daughter of a diplomat and educator who had worked with the World Health Organization. As a singer and songwriter, she's collaborated with artists around the globe, including Hugh Masakela, John Legend, Baaba Maal and Paul Simon. Last year, she was invited to perform at the United Nations by Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon. NPR's Arun Rath speaks with jazz artist and singer Somi about her latest project, The Lagos Music Salon. Listen to the NPR: Weekend Edition Sunday interview.

In 2011, Somi moved from New York City to the port city of Lagos, Nigeria, currently the 7th largest city in the world. She spent 18 months there, soaking in the culture, trying to make sense of the political scene there but ask throwing herself into producing concerts and intimate salon shows, closing her stay as an Artist-in-Residence at a University in Ilorin, Nigeria, 160+ miles northeast of Lagos.

Most of all, her music began to change.  She still wrote lyrics concerned with the plight of poor people but also shifted her focus to how women are treated in the Third World to pollution that chokes rivers and water supplies.  With help of her top-notch band - Liberty Ellman (guitars), Toru Dodo (piano, keyboards), Michael Olatuja (bass) and Otis Brown III (drums) - plus producers Cobhams Asuquo (Nigeria) and Keith Witty (New York City, who played bass on her live CD) and a slew of guests, Somi has created The Lagos Music Salon, her debut for the Okeh label.  As impressive as her previous recordings are, this CD is a giant step forward.  Not only does the music serve as a travelogue for her journeys in Nigeria (the opening track uses the soundtrack of her moving through customs in Lagos), it also is a brilliant meld of traditional and modern rhythms. READ THE FULL Step Tempest REVIEW.

Cynical music fans like to talk about the things that aren't happening today; things that aren't happening in jazz, that aren't happening in R&B. A few months ago, I was invited to witness what was happening at New York's Joe's Pub, in the person of recording artist, Somi. There are times when luck is on my side; an unanswered email, or an interview shoot gone long, and we'd instead be reading of an opportunity missed. We're not. The chanteuse gracing the stage, newly signed to Sony Music's reincarnated Okeh label, was opening a three date residency at Joe's Pub, the music venue of the venerated Public Theater. The late night event, a rather intimate setting, with less than fifty people in attendance, was crackling with an expectant buzz. The supper club, it's lights emanating, rather than shining alternatively purple, blue and red, coolly welcomed the tall singer to the stage -- the colors of her regal African patterned dress accepting the room's compliments. There was some advanced word on the streets, with the artist having previously released an album domestically, and debuting at number two on Billboard's World Music Chart. Her name and sound were, nonetheless, unknown to these ears. That was then. This is now. READ THE FULL Huffington Post REVIEW

Born in Illinois to parents from Uganda and Rwanda, Somi has always felt the pull of Africa. She has visited much of the continent, and in 2008 founded New Africa Live, dedicated to promoting global recognition of multidisciplinary African artists. The following year, spurred by her father's death, she journeyed "home," spending 18 months in Lagos. From her detailed journal entries, and with assistance from Nigerian producer and musician Cobhams Asuquo, a musical story emerged. Upon her return to New York, The Lagos Music Salon took shape alongside drummer Otis Brown III, pianist Toru Dodo, guitarist Liberty Ellman, bassist Michael Olatuja and backing vocalist Alicia Olatuja. Across 18 tracks, it is a sweeping, powerful portrait of a vibrant culture 20-million strong. READ THE FULL Jazztimes REVIEW.

Somi, The Lagos Music Salon (Okeh). Labeling this music is no easy task. Despite its frequently exotic rhythms, it's more like jazz than anything else. Despite singer and songwriter Somi's Ugandan and Rwandan descent, she was born in the United States while her father was a student here, moved at 3 to Zambia and back to Illinois, where she grew up in the late '80s. Hugh Masakela has been one of her mentors and she calls what she does "New African Jazz," which seems appropriate and nicely evocative of its difference from conventional jazz. Her voice is lovely and so is she, and in this disc for the increasingly wide-ranging and revived Okeh label she is paying tribute to what Teju Cole calls in the notes "the leading cosmopolis of the Black Atlantic. With a population now in excess of twenty-one million, it is the nerve center of all things Nigerian, the mad beating heart of West Africa, the largest city on the continent and a glimpse, both alarming and exciting, of the collective future of our urban planet." Listening to Somi's music after a pilgrimage there, we might all hope it's so. The songs here are all by Somi, except for one which uses a song by Fela Kuti. Another, a collaboration with Common and Four African Women, is a striking adaptation by Somi of an uncompromised classic by Nina Simone. For all its uncompromised lyrics, it's music in beauty's thrall all the way through and full of vocal interpolations revealing great wit and relishing laughter, too. Somi's songwriting is fine but it's her voice that enchants at all volume levels and in all registers.-Jeff Simon

Somi is set to release her new recording - The Lagos Music Salon on August 5th and will celebrate with a performance at NYC's The Cutting Room on Wednesday, August 6th. Somi breaks new ground with her major label debut The Lagos Music Salon (Sony/OKeh) which will be released August 5th, 2014. The new album by the superb chanteuse uses a hybrid style of music that organically integrates the essence of jazz and soul with the musical depth of her African heritage. Armed with a fantastic range of groove-heavy originals, the socially informed and adventurous vocalist Somi sings with a soulful beauty about her experiences during a recent 18-month creative sabbatical in Lagos, Nigeria. The album also features special guest appearances by Common, Angelique Kidjo, Ambrose Akinmusire, and others through a body of songs that JazzTimes calls a "sweeping, powerful portrait."

Somi's last studio album debuted at #2 on the Billboard World Chart and featured her legendary mentor Hugh Masekela. NPR's All Things Considered exclaimed that she is "a potent brew from the first sip to the last drop" while Vogue Magazine simply calls her voice "Superb!"

The choice of the Ace hotel in the fashionista's paradise that is Shoreditch in east London for the launch of a key ‘breakout' artist of the year may have raised one or two eyebrows. But the venue was actually spot-on. The low lighting, clear acoustics and intimate atmosphere greatly served Somi's meaningful anecdotes as well as the songs themselves, and the American singer proved quite emphatically that she has the kind of talent that warrants her graduation from an indie [Obliq] to a major label [Sony/OKeh]. All of which should provide the profile and PR muscle to enlarge her fanbase. In any case, Somi's The Lagos Music Salon has the standard of writing – above all the lyrics as well as melodies – and vocal performance that make it clear the loudening buzz around the singer is anything but hollow. READ THE FULL Jazzwise Magazine REVIEW.

When her father passed away in 2009, Somi had just released her third, critically acclaimed, multilingual album, If The Rains Come First, on ObliqSound. The album would shoot to #2 on the Billboard World Chart and firmly cement her as a phenomenal Afro-jazz storyteller. But she personally felt the loss. Drawn back to Africa, where her parents lived before they emigrated to Illinois, the Rwandan/Ugandan artist made one of the most important decisions of her career. "The loss was so sobering that I began to question my own life's legacy and path. My dearest mentor Hugh Masekela knew about my personal loss and subsequent desire for change. He also knew that, more than ever, I wished I could move ‘home' to Africa," Somi explained. "Something about the idea seemed like it might be a way to get closer to my father's spirit and my own heart. It was Uncle Hugh [who] reminded me that to be a musician is to be a global citizen and that I should always listen to my heart should it long to travel. ‘Stop thinking about it as a move,' he said, ‘Think of it as an opportunity to spend time with another part of your global audience.' That's when I decided to make the bold choice of moving to Lagos. A true Africanist, I believe my father is proud of that choice." She moved to Lagos, Nigeria from New York City in 2011 to find herself, and found a lot more. She found new friends, a deeper voice, a broader narrative, and inspiration for what would be a new album on OKeh Records. Initially, she only planned to stay for 15 months, but extended her visit for three more months as an artist in residence at a university in Ilorin, Nigeria, while doing salons (intimate shows) in the area. "So I started producing intimate salons at art galleries and other non-traditional venues in Lagos where I would perform my new music. It grew into a series where I'd invite local artists to perform as well," Somi explained. "That work greatly enriched my experience, challenged me to think more about African notions of cultural intimacy, and gave birth to The Lagos Music Salon concept." READ THE FULL AXS REVIEW.

Intimate, organic and at times ethereal we find Somi's The Lagos Music Salon transcending genre and cultural boundaries to create a vocal journey unsurpassed in recent memory. This incredibly moving vocal narrative is a personal hybrid of the improvisational spirit, nu-soul and the cultural embodiment of her African heritage. The cumulative result of The Lagos Music Salon are layers of vocal texture and melodic wonder that at times defy traditional critical review. READ THE FULL Critical Jazz REVIEW.

Vocalist Somi will release her OKeh Records debut, The Lagos Music Salon, on Aug. 5th. But on May 23rd at the Kennedy Center's 19th annual Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C., the singer-songwriter debuted another project, Women: Femme, an inspired collaboration with trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and her regular touring band. Women: Femme was inspired by the recent Arab Spring protests, during which Somi saw Facebook images of Muslim women demonstrating, but never heard their voices, which she partly blamed on Western media for not broadcasting their views. "I was really curious about what they might have to say and what their roles were," Somi said. "It was hard for me to find that information so I decided to imagine stories of what they might have to say." Somi was born and raised in the United States, but has roots in Uganda and Rwanda, while Paris-based Maalouf was born in Beirut. Onstage, their musical dialogue evoked North Africa. The two musicians delivered a stunning set, filled with intriguing storytelling that was animated by Somi's delicate voice meshing with Maalouf's arid trumpet passages. Drummer Otis Brown III and bassist Michael Olatuja cooked up incendiary rhythms that alluded to West Africa, Cuba and the Middle East, while pianist Toru Dodo underscored Somi's winsome melodies with graceful lines. During an interview with DownBeat after the performance, Somi shed more light on Women: Femme as well as her new disc. READ THE FULL Downbeat Magazine INTERVIEW.

The daughter of African immigrants, jazz artist Somi is captivating audiences with her New African sound. A recipient of the TEDGlobal Scholarship, she began playing cello at a young age and allowed that instrument to shape her vocal skills. The soon to be legendary songstress Somi is releasing a brand new sound on a historical label. The Lagos Music Salon, debuting on Sony's OKeh Records, features an impressive supporting cast that takes you on a soulful journey through Lagos, Nigeria. iRockJazz had the pleasure of speaking with Somi about her African roots, her New African sound and her part in the legendary relaunch of OKeh Records. READ THE FULL iRock Jazz INTERVIEW.

Somi, the NY-based songstress of Ugandan & Rwandan background, is readying the release of her major label debut The Lagos Music Salon for Sony Music's OKeh Records. The delicate, piano-accompanied Last Song infuses the singer's previous jazz-oriented excursions with experiences she had while spending 18 months in Ilorin and Lagos. The Lagos Music Salon, out August 5th in the US, will feature swaying grooves like that below alonsgide fast-paced afrobeat-inpired collaborations with Angelique Kidjo and a hip-hop leaning track with Common, among others. Watch the video for Last Song, premiering on Okayafrica today!

In a world that often insists on neat entertainment genres, some singer-songwriters will not be boxed in. Meet Somi, a singer-songwriter born in the Midwestern U.S. to African parents. She is both Harlem jazz singer and Afro-pop diva, and when Somi plays at hip New York venues like Joe's Pub, it's joyfully clear that her music has living roots in both worlds. READ THE FULL Voice Of America STORY AND WATCH THE VIDEO FROM NYC JOE'S PUB SHOW