Remembering Miriam Makeba: SOMI On Her New Play and Album Celebrating The South African Legend
SOMI is a Grammy-nominated singer, a songwriter, composer, actor and a playwright who has shared the stage with some of our world’s biggest stars—Angelique Kidjo, Common and her longtime mentor, the legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela. Of Rwandan and Ugandan descent, Somi was the first African woman nominated in any of the Grammy Jazz categories last year for her live album Holy Room- Live at Alte Oper.
For the last seven years, Somi has been grappling with the legacy of Miriam Makeba. The South African singer/songwriter and anti-apartheid activist is an icon and legend across Africa and elsewhere. But despite spending time in America, being right in the center of the mid-20th century New York jazz and folk scene, Somi has been surprised at how many people in America either don’t know who Miriam Makeba is, or don’t know much about her. That may be changing.
On March 4, Somi is releasing her fifth studio album, Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba, on the heels of the Somi-penned play Dreaming Zenzile, an original musical theater production that is set on the night of Miriam Makeba’s final show, the last night of her storied life. Her presentation of the album will headline the Apollo Theater’s Africa Now! festival on March 19. The latest single from the album, “Khuluma” is out today.
