Zaki Ibrahim

Zaki Ibrahim’s music is captivating and vibrant. It’s thick with poetics and steeped in a delicious mixture of earnest emotion and social commentary. Zaki’s path continues to progress, layering new experiences on top of each other that uniquely influence her musical ventures, culminating in her most recent project, Eclectica (Episodes in Purple).

Zaki’s road has been paved with creative encounters that have propelled her forward – from a childhood steeped in musical influences, to performing at Capetown’s historic Armchair Theatre, then touring Canada with South Africa’s Tumi and the Volume, the Roots and Bedouin Soundclash, to collaborating with famed DJ/Producer King Britt, to now. It’s all been about connection. To understand Zaki, one would have to follow the story as it is being written….

EPISODE 1- The Exploration
Born in Vancouver, BC and raised between South Africa and Canada’s West Coast, Zaki spent her life moving between two worlds and there was a constant cultural diversity blending her world together. Raised by South African father and Scottish/English mother, her home was full of fruitful debate, musical inspiration and societal education. Zaki explains “I grew up in an environment where knowledge and learning were key, there was just this constant awareness of what was going on around me and there was a significance attributed to each experience.”

Music became a constant in her life. “I have early memories of music holding this esteemed position in our household,” Zaki describes, “because most music was banned in South Africa during Apartheid. There were these mixed tapes that went underground that became lifelines to the world around us.” Each one of the tapes contained an eclectic mix from house music to jazz to pop and became treasured symbols of infinite possibilities.

In her teen years, she began to connect with local artists, writing and performing, gracing the stage of Capetown’s historic Armchair Theatre. She discovered her commitment to continuing creative evolution and cultural connections. 'I was interested in the concept of art documenting experiences,” Zaki states. “I wanted to develop my self-expression while exploring my musical community.”

EPISODE 2 – The Decision
This exploration led to early collaborations with emcees first in Vancouver and then South Africa and she connected with a broad family of Canadian and South African musicians, composers, and producers, including critically-acclaimed band Tumi & The Volume, Nick Holder (NRK), and Darp Malone. She began touring, as Zaki explains, “the raw feeling of expressing and connecting to strangers from the stage can sometimes be compared with confessing your feelings to someone you love…Making someone smile or cry is a trip when it happens and I don't think the intensity would ever change.”

Shortly thereafter, Zaki and Tumi and the Volume connected and toured with arts collective District Six Music to do “The African Way” tour with K’naan and Dj Nana. realized they needed to start handing out music, Zaki’s artist development label “Iqra music” and D6 decided to do a short run of a six song EP, titled Shö (Iqra In Orange) simply so that people could walk away with something to listen to. On the EP, Zaki blended soul, jazz and hip-hop to share the spirit and knowledge of her heritage and shared her experiences with those willing to stop and listen. Partnered with a few producers in her Toronto music community, she fully emerged and imprinted herself on the landscape. “With Shö I was making a declaration,” Zaki states, “I decided, this is what I want to do with my life, this is the craft that I want to pursue.”

Zaki began to build on her talent, swiftly garnering attention, industry and media praise and emerging as a noteworthy talent on both sides of the Atlantic. Zaki’s love of performing brings her to the stage frequently, headlining venues across this continent and beyond. She’s had the opportunity to share the stage with unique, diversified and legendary musicians, including Toots and the Maytals, The Roots Crew, K’naan, Bedouin Soundclash and Erykah Badu and took on the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem NY.

EPISODE 3 – The Experimentation

Zaki experimented with her music and enhanced it for the live show, changing the arrangements and adding in varied instrumentation. Once off the road, she was eager to explore the concept of remixing some of her music and teamed with producers Chin Injeti and Khalil, in Vancouver for artistic inspiration. “Changing the melody or the rhythm and seeing how it fits into an existing piece of writing is adventurous” Zaki discusses. “I had already been changing up the beats on stage, adding strings or rapping the lyrics, so when I went in studio, Chin played this beat that inspired me to flow a range of lyrics on top of it…one stuck.” Zaki is referring to “Grow”, which was re-titled “Grow Again”, now exuding a heavy-hitting hip-hop anthemic beat.

This expe