Somi to release live album this month

The album was recorded with the German big band during her performance for the Hessischer Rundfunk national broadcaster at the Alte Oper concert hall in Frankfurt in May 2019.

"The mere sound of the live congregation for the sake of storytelling comforted me in a deeply visceral way," Somi said. "Not only because it transported me to the stages and repertoire I long to return to, but more as a meditation on what cultural spaces do for the artist and audience in general, and for the marginalised black, African communities that I represent in particular. I’m very interested in the nuance of the global black experience. Ultimately, I’m just trying to articulate the multiplicities of cultural belonging that are inside of myself and hopefully inside of the music."

Somi's messages on the 11-track album are topical. 'The Gentry' and 'Black Enough' address the prejudice experienced by black people around the world, 'Holy Room' attempts to change perceptions of terrorism that are associated with Muslims, and 'Like Dakar' reflects on the cultural displacement of the Senegalese community in Harlem.

Proceeds from the sales of the album will be donated to the Black Art Futures Fund – a collective of emerging philanthropists promoting the elevation and preservation of black arts and culture.

"I want to support an organisation that is actively responding to the needs of black cultural organisations and the artists they serve, especially given how grossly underfunded black cultural institutions already are. In the face of a pandemic, that funding gap only gets larger."

In March, Somi was forced to cancel the premiere of her Dreaming Zenzile musical due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The musical took five years to produce and recounts the life and career of the late South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba.

"So many of us have had our livelihoods completely devastated," Somi said. "Usually the stage is where we go to release our pain. There is something so heart-breaking about the image of silenced theatres, stages and pianos."

Holy Room: Live at Alte Oper with Frankfurt Radio Big Band follows Somi's 2017 release of Petite Afrique. The album won in the Outstanding Jazz Album category at the 2018 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Awards in the US.

Pre-order Holy Room: Live at Alte Oper with Frankfurt Radio Big Band here.