Zaki Ibrahim

Artist Description

Twenty-five years, four continents, and several generations in the making, Zaki Ibrahim's music is captivating and vibrant. It's thick with poetics, and steeped in a delicious mixture of earnest emotion and humor. She was shaped by the diversity of her Apartheid-era hometown and household , where the lessons of Islam fed into discussions of Buddhism, Sufi philosophies courted drums, and Scottish folk songs intertwined with a rich, epic ancestral history. A fine web of worlds is present in every note, in every tone, in every word, and it is what makes her music both timeless and undeniably fresh.

By the time Zaki began writing and performing songs as a child, she was already well familiar with the life of a traveler, switching up continents as often as some people switch up hairdos. She was first introduced to hip-hop in South Africa, and then continued her journey with music as a teen in Canada's west coast. Zaki began to build on her craft, swiftly garnering attention, industry and media praises, and emerging as a noteworthy talent on both sides of the Atlantic. Not satisfied with merely playing role of an entertainer, she was quick to embrace a dual role of singer and cultural connector, building on the ground level, lending her energy and talent to workshops and interactive performances in schools, prisons, and in communities around the world.

Her first official full-length release, a highly anticipated live album and a few more collaborations are in the works, and are set to drop by the end of the year. Filling bellies and nourishing souls across borders, cultures, genres, and generations-anywhere the wind blows, Zaki's music will find a home.