With 2018’s The Secret Life of Planets, singer-songwriter Zaki Ibrahim established herself as a musician on the cutting edge of the medium. The genre-bending work blurs the lines between pop, soul and electronic music to create a work that’s at once catchy and experimental.

Ibrahim spoke and performed at The Forks on Sept. 12 as part of The Uniter’s ongoing Speaker Series. Presented in partnership with Wall-to-Wall Winnipeg, she spoke about growing up between Nanaimo, B.C. and Cape Town, South Africa and how her international perspective has influenced her music. She told the story of her father’s exile from and return to South Africa, how her current project of writing and recording a new album in Ethiopia has opened her eyes and how motherhood changed her career.

Published in Volume 74, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 19, 2019)