Somi – What Does It Take To Bloom?
Today, GRAMMY-nominated vocalist-songwriter Somi released her album What Does It Take to Bloom?, via Salon Africana.
For Somi, every album is an act of place-making. Her catalog reads like a map of migration and memory – traversing the cultural bridge between Africa and America with records rooted in Nigeria, in Harlem, in the spirit and political inheritance of Miriam Makeba. On Somi’s forthcoming album What Does it Take To Bloom?, the terrain shifts. Written and recorded between Dakar, Lagos, Paris and New York City, this time the place being mapped is not a city, country, or collective memory. It’s the self.
Having spent years navigating the global jazz scene while also standing adjacent to it, Somi defies categorization – embracing a hybrid of jazz, soul, highlife, spoken word, and her African heritage. What Does It Take to Bloom? marks an evolution of Somi’s sound, and finds her taking greater vocal risks while trusting her instincts more deeply. Abandoning the need to fit inside any artistic box, that refusal in itself is a form of blooming.
Ultimately, the album is grounded in finding belonging – recognizing that the journey towards wholeness is rarely linear and always unfinished. From the many experiences in life beyond our control to the embodied realities of womanhood, Somi explores the many facets of self-discovery that make her bloom. She hopes listeners will find themselves within the music; and if not, she offers the chance to witness her coming home to herself.
Select Tour Dates:
Sept. 17 – Champaign, IL – Krannert Center for Performing Arts
Sept, 18 – Evanston, IL – Space
Sept. 19 – Indianapolis, IN – Jazz Kitchen
Sept. 27 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Skidmore College
Sept. 29 – Madison, WI – Wisconsin Union Theater
Oct. 1 – New York, NY – World Music Institute presents at Sony Hall
Oct. 3 – South Orange, NJ – South Orange Performing Arts Center
Oct. 10 – Denver, CO – Dazzle
Oct. 11 – San Francisco, CA – SFJazz Center
Oct. 12 – Santa Cruz, CA – Kuumbwa
#somimusic