Somi Presents: The Mother Africa Salon
About This Event
Somi (Laura Kabasomi Kakoma) presents The Mother Africa Salon at Dizzy's Club, a jazz program that draws on her Rwandan and Ugandan roots and her theatrical work. A Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and actress, she was the first African woman nominated in a jazz category, the first Rwandan or Ugandan ever nominated for a Grammy, and the first East African to perform on Broadway.
About The Mother Africa Salon
“The Mother Africa Salon” arrives at Dizzy’s Club as a live jazz-centered gathering led by vocalist and curator Somi under her Somi Presents banner. The salon frames music as a conversation across the African diaspora, with songs and spoken context used to trace memory, migration, and contemporary identity. In New York, a city shaped by African and Caribbean communities, that premise lands with local weight even without a stated premiere history. One clear strength is its emphasis on listening as a cultural practice, not just entertainment.
About the Artist
Somi
Laura Kabasomi Kakoma, known professionally as Somi or Somi Kakoma, is a Grammy-nominated American-born singer, songwriter, playwright, and actress of Rwandan and Ugandan descent. Somi is the first African woman to be nominated for a Grammy Award in a Jazz category.