A true multicultural woman, Somi was born in Illinois to immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda, then spent her early childhood in Zambia. The African cultural legacy, always crucial to her sound, is as vital as ever in her current music, which Somi likes to call New African Soul. But so too is the music she heard upon relocating to New York, with American jazz singers like Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan as essential to her artistic development as the legendary African female voices of Miriam Makeba, Cesaria Evora and Sade.

African Lady

Somi at the Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture

Prayer To The Saint Of The Brokenhearted

<p>Somi 'Prayer To The Saint Of The Brokenhearted' from Walk Off Media on Vimeo.</p>

Waiting in Vain @ Joe's Pub NYC Feb '08

Keep Moving (Valentine's Day 2010)

Ingele

Somi sings an original song about heartache. (In Swahili)