Mim Suleiman | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Tanzania |
| Genres | House |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Labels | BubbleTease Communication |
| Website | mimsuleiman |
Mim Suleiman is a Zanzibar-born Tanzanian singer, songwriter, composer, performer, workshop facilitator and campaigner. She currently resides in Sheffield, England. [1] She has worked with Maurice Fulton, Bi Kidule, Ben UFO and Mood II Swing. [2] [3]
Suleiman moved to the UK from Zanzibar in the 1980s, teaching metallurgy [4] at the University of Birmingham before turning her career to music [5] by her late 20s after participating in a festival. [4] As she states, "what was once as a person of no art has become now an artist within fifteen years... it's given me a depth of life I've never had before". [6]
She took singing lessons in college and was initially given English songs to sing, but felt more comfortable when provided with South African pieces. [4] Her first performance was a 15-minute choir presentation for which she earned £7. [4] After that, she performed in more festivals until she decided to quit her job and focus on music. [4]
She released her first album Tungi in 2010. [2] [4] In 2013, her song "Mingi" was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto V soundtrack, on the game's fictional Soulwax FM radio station. [2]
The third album, Adera Dera, came on 14 September 2015 via BubbleTease Communication. [7] [2] [3]
Also in 2015, she had a leading role in the film uSISTA (directed by Zippy Kimundu), which covers the work of women musicians in East Africa. [3] [4]
In 2017, she released her third album Kawaida. [4]
Her music encompasses elements from afro-beat, electronic, disco, deep house, soul, and traditional folk music. [3] [8] She mainly sings in her native language Swahili, [8] [3] but occasionally uses other languages such as English and Fulani. [9] [3] When asked if she sees her work as afrofuturism, she stated that she doesn't "categorize any of my music—everyone else does that without asking me. [...] If my music is futuristic, it's futuristic because it's never been done before." [3]