Petite Afrique

"Somi's debut on the Okeh imprint - The Lagos Music Salon - pulled no punches. It tackled tough topics within an African framework, bringing hard truths to bear in soulful fashion. This follow-up is equally impactful, but it shifts focus stateside, eyeing the titular Harlem neighborhood that Somi calls home now ... The music and the messages on Petite Afrique prove to be inextricably linked, and it shouldn't be any other way. Somi has crafted another smooth-flowing collection that's both affecting and intoxicating".

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"For her previous effort, 2014's superb Lagos Music Salon, New York-based singer/songwriter Somi moved to Lagos, Nigeria in order to absorb the city's vibrant music and culture and utilize them as a catalyst for her own cross-pollinated jazz and R&B. On 2017's Petite Afrique, she turns her attention back across the Atlantic to New York's Harlem, drawing inspiration from that city's deep cultural roots to celebrate America's immigrant experience. Although born in Illinois, Somi is the daughter of Rwandan and Ugandan immigrants, and even spent several years living in Zambia and Kenya as a child. Consequently, she brings a unique cultural perspective to her music, a sound informed by jazz, R&B, and African and Latin traditions ... Undeniably, Somi has crafted a deeply emotive, socially minded album rife with layers of dense jazz harmonies and intoxicating soul grooves. However, what truly grabs your attention on Petite Afrique is her intuitive ability to capture the spirit oftheimmigrant heart, that dichotomously sorrowful and joyous sweet familiar between the old world and the new".

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"A thematic unity binds the whole album together, permeating the lyrics, as well as the music with the kind of expression jazz was built on. Here, that jazz flows freely into soul, R&B, and all kinds of West African sounds, layer upon layer of velvet. As raw as the feelings can be, Somi's luxurious voice and the virtuosic instrumentation make this a refined album of wondrous technique and real human interest".

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