A true multicultural woman, jazz vocalist and composer Somi was born in Illinois to immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda, then spent her early childhood in Zambia. The African cultural legacy, always crucial to her sound, is as vital as ever in her current music, which Somi likes to call New African Soul, as well as the music she heard upon relocating to New York - American jazz singers like Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan are as essential to her artistic development as are the legendary African female voices of Miriam Makeba, Cesaria Evora and Sade.

In January 2010, Somi's critically-acclaimed album, If the Rains Come First, was rated number two on World Billboard charts. Boston Globe critic Siddartha Mitter praised her latest release, noting that it "glistens with the sheen of an almost impossibly perfect cosmopolitanism. Singing in English and three East African languages, Somi's vocal delivery is subtle, yet the power she exerts is enormous. Her artistic evolution is indisputable."