Why Are There Ads in Your Music?

Simple! Slacker Radio needs to pay your favorite artists.

Please disable your ad blocker or, better yet, upgrade to Radio Plus.

For only $3.99/month we'll remove all ads and give you unlimited song skips.

The music will continue in seconds.

Select to cast music to your TV or stereo

Your browser is not supported by the Slacker Radio web site.

Update your browser to the latest available version to use the Slacker Radio web site:

Google Chrome

Firefox

An error has occurred. Please check your username and password.

Need an account?

We'll start the music back up once
you go through this security check.

Have an account?

Feedback

Choose the Right Membership For You

Basic

FREE

Personalize your radio experience.
Choose from our hand-crafted stations
Skip up to 6 songs per hour/station
Listen on multiple devices
Create stations based on artists, albums, or songs
Personalize stations and save your preferences

current membership

Plus

$3.99/month

Personalized radio with no interruptions or limits.
Enjoy an ad-free experience
Skip unlimited songs
Download stations and shows to listen data-free on your mobile device
Customize ESPN Radio (a Slacker exclusive)
Hear maximum audio quality (320kbps)

current membership

Premium

$9.99/month

You're in total control of the ultimate listening experience.
Play thousands of songs and albums on-demand
Jump to the favorite parts of songs
Download playlists and albums and listen data-free on your mobile device
Create playlists from our massive library of songs
Along with all benefits of Plus membership

current membership

Message

Somi

Top Related Artists

Biography

Born Laura Kabasomi Kakoma in Champaign, Illinois on June 6, 1981, the jazz vocalist and composer is better known by her stage name, Somi. Born to parents from Rwanda and Uganda and raised between the American Midwest and southern Africa, she grew up inhabiting multiple cultural worlds. Her music blends vocal jazz with African grooves, soul, and pop songwriting, using narrative as its connective tissue. Her debut album, Eternal Motive (2003), introduced her as a striking interpretive singer, but it was her later work that established her voice as singular. Albums such as The Lagos Music Salon (2014) drew from an extended creative stay in Nigeria, while Petite Afrique (2017) painted a vivid musical portrait of African immigrant life in Harlem amid accelerating gentrification. A trained scholar with advanced degrees in African Studies and performance, she regularly weaves historical inquiry into her songwriting and stage work. That sensibility came fully into focus with Zenzile: The Reimagination of Miriam Makeba (2022), a tribute album honoring the legendary South African singer and activist. In parallel with her studio recordings, Somi has gained international recognition as a live performer. Her 2020 release Holy Room: Live at Alte Operârecorded with the Frankfurt Radio Big Bandâcaptured her at the intersection of vocal control and emotional openness, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. With that nomination, she made history as the first African woman recognized in a Grammy jazz category, an achievement reflecting both personal artistry and broader cultural shift within the genre. Across albums, stage works, and collaborative projects, Somiâs music remains anchored in empathy and observationâconcerned less with abstraction than with how people live, move, and belong. She has released a body of work that feels at once intellectually grounded and emotionally generous, expanding jazzâs vocabulary while keeping its human center firmly in focus.

Read All Read Less