After a landmark stretch of creative output and performances, including her Carnegie Hall debut, an award-winning album honoring the great Miriam Makeba, Somi Kakoma has become the first Rwandan artiste to debut on the Broadway stage.
Somi is currently starring as the title character of "Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” - a new play by Ghanaian-American playwright Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Obie-award winner Whitney White.
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The play showcases a bustling hair braiding salon in Harlem, New York City where a lively and eclectic group of West African immigrant hair braiders are creating masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women.
Other actors in the production include the likes of Dominique Thorne (Wakanda Forever) and Nana Mensah (The Chair), who are also making their Broadway debuts.
"It has truly been a gift to share the stories of African women on the Broadway stage - especially a story that not only disarms audiences with so much humor but also lifts up the experience of African immigrants living in the United States. As a daughter of immigrants from Rwanda and Uganda, I am fully aware of what it means to define ‘home’ in multiple places,” Somi said in a statement.
"I am also aware of the often obscured challenges that Black immigrants in particular face under American immigration policies. More than anything, I hope this show invites people to think about our shared humanity and the ways in which we might find home in each other,” she added.
The play has been extended twice with non-stop rave reviews. Currently running at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, final performances of "Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” are being globally live streamed this weekend.
Somi is also known as the first African woman to ever receive a Grammy nomination in any of the jazz categories, and recently archived another milestone of becoming the first Rwandan ever nominated for a Grammy with her nod for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2021.
Broadway is located in the center of Manhattan in New York City and is known as the global pinnacle of theatrical artistry. Housed in 41 theaters in the famed Theatre District of Times Square, it features some of the most talented performers - often launching many careers to Hollywood stardom.