Leomile

A nova from the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, Leomile is a soulful singer-songwriter and composer whose musical tapestry in Sesotho and English, muses on important issues of identity, love and womanhood. Leomile is a name given to rainmakers and it means “One who brings restoration”. It is her role to embody this message, using music as orature that restores the memory of who we have been and who we can become. Her deliberation of these vital and often buried aspects of African life and humanity, exposè as golden threads of honesty, idealism and hope in her songs.

“I believe music is a healing modality that calls us back to the essence of who we are” - Leomile

Leomile fuses traditional African folk music with neo-soul, a bit of jazz and alternative/electronic sounds. She draws inspiration from a wide variety of artists including: Miriam Makeba, Janelle Monae, The Brother Moves On, Tracy Chapman, Thandiswa Mazwai, Erykah Badu, Famole, Sibusile Xaba and Bob Dylan alongside Academia and Literature such as Octavia Butler’s Parable series or Ngugi Wa Thiong'o or Litšomo tsa Basotho (Basotho folklore).

Born and raised in Maseru, Lesotho. She started writing music at age 9 and was a part of the poetry club in high school, before studying film (directing and writing), then pivoting into a Bachelor of Arts in Live performance (Music). Seeing as both her mother and grandmother were both singers, this combined with her father’s vast music collection - which influenced a diverse taste in music - the calling of Leomile to music is a generational one.

Her debut album, ‘Pula-Molomo’ was released in 2016 and she has since played various festivals including the Standard Bank Joy of Jazz and the MACUFE festivals and toured with legendary village Pope, Tshepo Tshola, MTN Bushfire Festival in Swaziland, the South African State Theatre, Soweto Theatre and many other venues. She has shared stages with Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Msaki, Tshepo Tshola, Tresor, Sun-El Musician, Urban Village, Maleh, Mpho Sebina, The Brother Moves On, BONJ and many more.

Leomile was one of the first artists’ to sign with ALTBLK>> a home for unique African independent artists, founded by Msaki releasing a collaborative single with Maleh entitled ‘Bana ba Khoale’, which is a Sesotho Proverb which means that kindred spirits have a code of communication only known to them, which helps them identify each other. This song about the reassurance of faith and speaking things into existence, comes to life through the guidance of pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini and is produced by trumpeter and composer Ndabo Zulu. Leomile also contributed to Platoon’s African Lullabies Chapter 1 with the track ‘Khoeli’.

Leomile asks us all to remember and restore our sense of belonging, pursuing freedom, embracing the inner-child, Pan-Africanism and a return to African Spirituality.

Press/Reviews:

“Leomile, as a contemporary contributor to the Black Archive, highlights the uses of looking to the black archive to glean new perspectives to old questions and probing the possibilities of new, collective and cohesive futures in...