A daughter of the New African world, Somi was born in Illinois to a mother from Uganda and a father from Rwanda, who worked for the World Health Organization, thus requiring the family of seven to move frequently. Soon her father took on a tenured professorship in a Midwestern college town, and as a child, Somi studied the cello before switching to singing for good. Fluent in three languages and proficient in another four, she studied socio-cultural anthropology in college, moving to Kenya and Tanzania after graduation to experience Africa as a young adult while working with children affected by HIV/AIDS. Afterwards she moved to New York City, where she began her performing career and earned her masters degree at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Winning praise from African icons like Hugh Masekela and Cheik Tidiane Seck, Somi has been profiled in numerous media including Global Rhythm Magazine, CNN International, The Ananda Lewis Show and BET. In 2006 she was invited by the International French Cultural Center to tour 15 African countries. Before she got started, she helped the Rwanda Ministry of Culture and World Culture Open organize the 5th Pan-African festival of Dance in Kigali, Rwanda, while consulting for the United Nations Development Programme’s International Conference on Creative Economies for Development also in Kigali. In addition to venues previously mentioned, she has performed at B.B. King’s, SOBs, Irving Plaza, Knitting Factory, Museum for African Art, Central Park’s Bandshell Series, JVC Jazz Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival and Chicago’s South Shore Jazz Fest.

Her new project, Red Soil In My Eyes, is a sumptuous, deeply-felt celebration of her Rwandese and Ugandan heritage that effortlessly bridges genres and continents with dazzling artistry and a rich, powerful four-octave voice.

* 10% of album sales in April to be donated to SURF: Rwandan Survivors Fund *
April 2007 marks the 13-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. In recognition of the lives lost and her hope for her father’s land, Somi has decided to donate 10% of the April proceeds of sales of Red Soil In My Eyes to two projects of Surf: The Rwandan Survivors Fund: 1) Project for Widows: Provision of Anti-retroviral HIV Drugs; and 2) Projects for Children and Orphans: Testimony and Memory Books. Please see www.survivors-fund.org.uk for full information on these life-saving programs.