The list of the latest TED fellows just announced includes Somi, the US singer who this year released Lagos Music Salon and who becomes a senior fellow.

The big track from Lagos Music Salon, Ginger Me Slowly

Twice a year, TED selects 20 “unconventional change-makers” to join the organisation's fellows programme, a global network that last year included an eye surgeon using low-cost mobile phone technology; photojournalists documenting conflicts in Palestine and Bosnia; and even an astrophysicist investigating the origins of the universe. The senior fellows are awarded an additional two years of involvement with TED.

Somi explained more about her latest album project speaking to Marlbank earlier in the year: “I’ve been wanting to go home to Africa for several years. I was really curious about Lagos because I found it had a lot of similarities to New York in terms of its gritty nature, cosmopolitan kind of rhythm, and cultural production in general. I was able to decide to stay for 15 months that then became 18 months. I think my biggest surprise initially was a sort of a blissful experience being there with the people in the sun reconnecting with the African continent and culture even though I’m not Nigerian, being in that energy. I think what always surprised me was the kind of everyday casual, almost, inspiration that seemed to be ubiquitous.”

The album also features the Angélique Kidjo as a guest on ‘Lady Revisited’, a song Somi introduced on her 2007 released album Red Soil in My Eyes while rapper Common guests on ‘When Rivers Cry.’ Lagos Music Salon paints a picture of life in Lagos utilising these sounds, and they act as episodic aural street scenes interspersed between the songs. Somi works with musicians on the album who include pianist Toru Dodo, guitarist Liberty Ellman, drummer Otis Brown III, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and the formerly London-based bass guitarist Michael Olatuja.

The full list of TED fellows is here

Somi above photo Glynis Carpenter/OKeh