Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba. The new album by Somi
GRAMMY-nominated vocalist, and songwriter Somi has released a new album,which honours the groundbreaking South African singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba.
Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba, features special guests including Gregory Porter, Angelique Kidjo, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Seun Kuti and more.
The album, released on 4th March on the artist’s Salon Africana label, is a celebration of the late Makeba’s invaluable musical contributions and messages of social justice, features Somi’s renditions of some of Makeba’s best-known songs – both Makeba’s own compositions and covers.
The release date honoured Makeba on what would have been her 90th birthday.
Regarded as one of Africa’s first international superstars, Makeba (one of whose given names is ‘Zenzile’) elevated the spirit of a continent, including her native South Africa. Her courage, however, was met with three decades of political exile from her homeland followed by blacklisting in the United States after her marriage to civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael.
Somi’s lifelong love of Makeba’s music and personal strength led to a record that she hopes will inspire a rediscovery of Makeba’s life and work.
“This album is my attempt to honour the unapologetic voice of an African woman who inevitably made room for my own journey and countless other African artists. In short, I owe her. We all do,” she says.
In recognition of Makeba’s resonance throughout Africa and the diaspora, Somi invited a number of special guests to perform on the record. From South Africa, Grammy-winning male vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, singer-songwriter Msaki, vocalist and activist Thandiswa Mazwai, and jazz pianist-composer Nduduzo Makhathini join Somi for the tribute. Other guests also include GRAMMY-winning American jazz singer Gregory Porter, Nigerian singer-musician Seun Kuti (Fela Kuti’s youngest son), and GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriter and activist, Angelique Kidjo.
Somi Kakoma is a singer, songwriter, playwright, and actor of Rwandan and Ugandan descent. She has released seven acclaimed albums, scoring positions on the World Music, Jazz, and Heatseekers charts. Somi’s records have featured guests including Common, Angelique Kidjo, and renowned South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who became her longtime mentor. She has been widely honoured as a Soros Equality Fellow, a TED Senior Fellow, a USA Doris Duke Fellow, a 2021 Grammy nominee, and a recipient of two NAACP Image Awards.
She performed at Carnegie Hall alongside Hugh Masekela, Dave Matthews, and Vusi Mahlesela in celebration of South African democracy, and was invited by UN Secretary-General to perform in commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery. Somi is the founder of Salon Africana, a boutique arts agency and label for contemporary African musicians and writers.
She holds undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and African Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master’s degree in Performance Studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Creative Practice & Critical Inquiry at Harvard University.
Find out more about Somi here www.somimusic.com