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Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, actor, and playwright Somi Kakoma is the Midwestern daughter of immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Hailed by The New York Times as “a virtuosic performer in full command of her instrument and powers,” she is known in the international jazz world simply as ‘Somi’. Her 2021 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album made her the first African woman ever nominated in any of the Grammy jazz categories, as well as the first Rwandan or Ugandan ever nominated for a Grammy. Her last release, Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba, was a companion project to the critically acclaimed original musical “Dreaming Zenzile” that Somi also wrote and starred in Off-Broadway as a tribute to the great South African singer and activist. Her highly anticipated forthcoming album, What Does It Take to Bloom?, will be released in August 2026.
Somi is a recipient of two NAACP Image Awards and a Doris Duke Artist Award. She is also a Soros Equality Fellow, United States Artist Fellow, TED Senior Fellow, Sundance Theatre Fellow, and the founder of Salon Africana – a boutique cultural agency and record label. Recently, Somi made her Broadway debut in the titular role of the TONY Award winning play “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”.
She holds degrees in Cultural Anthropology and African Studies from the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master’s degree in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, and a PhD in Critical Inquiry & Creative Practice from Harvard University. In her heart of hearts, she loves family, poetry, and freedom.
