So, what IS the root of America’s classical music, aka “jazz”? We may say it is ultimately from Africa, but so little of today’s jazz actually hints at any reference to the Mother Continent. Vocalist and songwriter Somi, with blood lines directly linked to Africa, has taken the step of returning to Africa to get musical inspiration to mix modern jazz with modern African sounds. Her latest release, The Lagos Music Salon, shows influences ranging from the modern inner city to the African Bush.
We tend to think of “jazz” as something that has to have either a) blues b) “Rhythm” changes and c) “swing.” Somi turns these presuppositions on their collective heads. Yes, there is “jazz” in her music, but her reference point is not 42nd Street, but more likely Lagos Island. She is currently on tour fascinating fans with her melding of sounds that both capture the essence of jazz and the tap root of Africa’s heart.
We recently caught up with Somi, who was just about to sing at The Blue Whale with a vibrant band that is still travelling worldwide.
WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY BACKGROUND?
I grew up in Illinois, Midwest Africa! My family is originally from Rwanda and Uganda. Half and half, but I was born in Illinois. My dad was in grad school in Illinois when I was born, and then we left and moved to Zambia for a few years of my childhood and then we came back to Illinois where I spent most of my formative years. I went to undergrad school at the same school my dad went in Illinois. I moved and went to Tanzania and Kenya for a year and a half and then moved to New York to pursue music.
Then, recently, in 2011, I decided that I wanted a change. I had been going there to visit and tour with my band, but I really wanted to see how being on the continent would shift my musical inspiration, lyrical inspiration, creative process and also artistic perspective because I think that my work has always been about my association between here and there, but I no longer wanted to look through it through the diasporic lens and sort of the romantic lens. So, I decided to go to Lagos (Nigeria) because it’s very much like an African version of New York City; lots of people, lots of art and cultural stuff going on, huge industries going on. So, it was great.
THERE IS A GREAT AMOUNT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MUSIC OF WEST AND EAST AFRICAN MUSIC. DID EITHER ONE INFLUENCE YOU MORE THAN THE OTHER?
I think that everything that we listen to or are exposed to as human being effects us. We’re porous souls and minds, and I’d like to believe that I heard while there as I was travelling as a young person (We’ve travelled all over the world since my father worked for the World Health Organization at that time) so I’d like to believe that that global view and world view and very international community of family and friends that we and my parents had as I was growing up-I’d like to believe that it’s an influence in some way. I’d like to think that it allows me to have a more expansive vision beyond my own social and cultural experience.
THE TYPE OF JAZZ THAT YOU AND YOUR DRUMMER OTIS BROWN III ARE CREATING IS MUCH DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU WOULD CALL “REGULAR” JAZZ IN THAT IT INCORPORATES THINGS LIKE HIP HOP AND URBAN SOUNDS. IS THIS A CONSCIOUS DECISION THAT YOU AND OTHERS OF YOUR GENERATION ARE MAKING?
Actually, jazz is very accidental for me. I never set out to be a “jazz vocalist.” I found it very interesting when people started calling me a jazz vocalist. I’m a song writer and a vocalist first. What I love about the jazz genre, and what I’ve discovered in my experience and path as an artist is that I surround myself with a lot of jazz artists, obviously (laughs as she looks at the musicians setting up for the show)like the guys here tonight, Otis Brown, Toru Dodo, Ben Williams and Liberty Ellman. They’re all incredible jazz musicians, but first and foremost, they’ve got an expansive music vocabulary. And, what I love about jazz is there’s like this fluidity, malleability and flexibility. There’s all of this “language” that not every genre of music insists on holding true to and deeply exploring. So, for me, jazz feels like this wonderful metaphor to my own social experience where I always have to improvise. I’m East African, I’m Ugandan, Rwandan, I live in Illinois, New York and Lagos. I travel to LA or Paris or wherever as a musician. So, I think that I constantly have to improvise as a human being but still at the same time while you’re privileging that individual voice you also appreciate ensemble.
I think that’s what I love about jazz; every single voice on stage is privileged. They have a chance to improvise. They have a chance to share their own perspective and voice in the music. But at the same time, they’re never losing that important sense of ensemble. So, I feel like jazz is a sort of metaphor for what I’ve stumbled in to. Also, I think that being from all of those places and having all of those experiences , again jazz is the one space that is so open where I feel like anything. People will describe my music like “It’s jazzy.” (laughs) But, at the same time I don’t want to dismiss the connection that I have to the actual music, to the tradition of jazz and its voices.
Like, my favorite voices are Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald and De De Bridgewater, who’s coming out to see me at the show tonight! She’s a kick.
HAVE ANY ARTISTS GIVEN YOU ANY ADVICE?
Hugh Masakela was a huge figure in my life and a mentor. He and all of the other artists I’ve met are big on making sure that you’re honest with yourself; making sure that you’re honest with the music. Because when you do that, you’re honest with the audience and that’s who’s going to show up; the people who are really meant to be there for you and listen to what you have to say. They’ll show up when you’re honest with yourself and honest with them and the music.
WHEN YOU LIVED IN NIGERIA, DID YOU NOTICE ANY OF THE RELIGIOUS TENSIONS?
It’s there in Nigeria, but not so much in Lagos. Lagos is like any city, it’s a melting pot so people are not pre-occupied with “Oh, he’s Muslim” or “Oh, he’s Christian.” That’s something that perhaps happens more in the provincial settings. I didn’t notice it or focus on it in my processing.
YOU CALL YOUR MUSIC “NEW AFRICAN JAZZ.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
It means challenging whatever people think African music might be. I think people assume that African music is stagnated in tradition. They don’t think of African artists as evolving creative beings . We too are influenced by the global village that we live in and we too are influenced by the digital era, youtube and all these other things. There are a lot of new sounds coming out of the continent and through the Diaspora and with my small two cents I take on what it means to be an African woman and express African music and African identity. That’s what I mean by the word “new.”As for the “jazz” part, as I said before, I consider it just as a metaphor for me. I obviously reference to a lot of it in my own writing.
WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO CONVEY ON THIS LATEST ALBUM?
I think I was trying to convey myself! (laughs)We’re just starting our tour. This is our first night! They guys just got in from New York. The album is called The Lagos Music Salon, so we’re calling it “The Salon Tour.” For it, I’m partnering with a lot of community arts bases across the country to create these opportunities of intimacy, to get that same room, that same “salon” feel where there’s a two way conversation between artist and audience. It’s also a metaphor for giving people an opportunity to re-imagine an African experience and an African narrative. To give them a chance through that intimacy up close look at what African music might be, could be and should be.
RANDY WESTON TOLD ME THAT ALL MUSIC STARTS IN AFRICA, AND ALL OF AFRICA STARTS WITH GOD.
I can see Randy saying that, and it’s a deep thought and moving sentiment. I studied anthropology in undergrad, so I’d like to believe that we’re all Africans! And the starting point is Divine.
SOMI HAS THE UNIQUE ABILITY TO EXPAND MUSIC IN TWO CONTINENTS, YET ALSO UNITE THEM WITH A MIX THAT IS AT ONCE ECLECTIC AND ALSO ‘CLASSIC.’ CHECK OUT HER LATEST RELEASE AND LOOK FOR HER IN A VILLAGE NEAR YOU.