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New Releases Plus Jazz Fathers Jam With Their Offspring
by Mary Foster Conklin
The annual Fathers Day broadcast celebrates Jazz Fathers and their children, presents new releases from NYO Jazz, Subconscious Trio, Jo Harrop, Carole Nelson Trio, Melissa Errico and the Paxton/Spangler Septet, plus birthday shoutouts to Daryl Sherman, Brianna Thomas, Alicia Olatuja, Carol Robbins, Nancy King and Tamuz Nissim, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear on the show--see them live, buy (don't just stream) their music so they can continue to distract, provoke, comfort and inspire. ...
read moreSomi: Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba
by Angelo Leonardi
Il legame musicale e simbolico con l'Africa resta centrale nella produzione artistica di Somi, la vocalist e cantautrice statunitense dai genitori africani giunta al successo con gli album The Lagos Music Saloon e Holy Room. Il suo nuovo progetto è dedicato a Miriam Makeba, che avrebbe compiuto 90 anni il 4 marzo, data di pubblicazione del presente album. I brani in scaletta, tutti presi dallo storico repertorio della cantante, sono condivisi col musical Dreaming Zenzile, che Somi ...
read moreSomi at Dazzle
by Geoff Anderson
Somi Dazzle Denver, CO January 16, 2019 A case can be made that all Western popular music can trace its origins to Africa. Even if that's a bit of an exaggeration, it's not when it comes to vocalist/songwriter Somi. She was born in Illinois, but her parents were immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda. Wanting to get back to her roots, she spent a year and a half in Lagos, Nigeria to better understand the continent ...
read moreSomi: Petite Afrique
by Dan Bilawsky
Somi's debut on the Okeh imprint--The Lagos Music Salon (Okeh, 2014)--pulled no punches. It tackled tough topics within an African framework, bringing hard truths to bear in soulful fashion. This follow-up is equally impactful, but it shifts focus stateside, eyeing the titular Harlem neighborhood that Somi calls home now. In addressing life along 116th Street, Somi opens eyes to the cultural ideals and struggles associated with the working class immigrants that reside there while also touching on ...
read moreSomi: The Lagos Music Salon
by Angelo Leonardi
L'attuale rinascita del soul, nella nuova connessione tra radici storiche, jazz, hip-hop e Africa non è solo europea (inglese e francese, soprattutto). Evidenziata da giovani cantanti nere con precise radici africane, trova in Somi una figura di crescente rilevanza, destinata ad ampio successo. 33 anni, nata negli Stati Uniti da genitori provenienti da Rwanda e Uganda, s'era messa in luce con il raffinato album del 2009 If the Rains Come First e oggi torna alla ribalta con ...
read moreSomi: The Lagos Music Salon
by Dan Bilawsky
To most people, the junction of New York and Lagos, Nigeria may not seem like a natural place for an album to take shape. Somi, thankfully, thought otherwise. This worldly and well-traveled vocalist makes it seem like the most natural of meeting points on The Lagos Music Salon. Somi's music has always been informed by African, R&B and soul influences, but an eighteen month stay in Lagos helped her dig deeper into the African cultural soil than ...
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