“The music itself is futuristic soul at its best, blending retro R&B vibes with electronic production that will take you out of this world.” – Afropunk 

Toronto-based, Juno-nominated South African-Canadian singer-songwriter Zaki Ibrahim’s music blends R&B, soul, and jazz. After travelling from Vancouver to South Africa to Toronto and many points in between, she released her debut EP, Shö (Iqra in Orange), in 2006, followed by a second EP, Eclectica (Episodes in Purple). Her live shows to support this second EP included an appearance with Bedouin Soundclash at the MuchMusic Video Awards in 2008, opening for Erykah Badu at Massey Hall, and a Juno nomination for “R&B/Soul Recording of the Year.” As well, her first full-length album, Every Opposite, was shortlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. In Ibrahim latest 2018 full-length album, The Secret Life of Planets, her work pushes back against binaries, against reductiveness, and against expectation. Described as “a retro-Afrofuturist vision sending listeners on a journey through 40 years of electronic music” (Nuvo), Ibrahim’s music brings elements of spoken word, hip hop, soul, house and 70s pop together, filtered through the prismatic and often contradictory lenses of personal, historical and scientific relativities. Even the concept of diaspora seems to fall short of capturing the vivid vibrational multitudes of Ibrahim’s scope.  

Opening for Jamison Ross