Zaki Ibrahim - Every Opposite

Zaki Ibrahim personifies cross-cultural music. The daughter of a South African father and a Scottish mother, she was born in Vancouver and launched her career in Toronto, where she absorbed pop, jazz and hip-hop styles. After releasing two EPs, Ibrahim relocated to Cape Town and immersed herself in electronica and African music. Her debut album, Every Opposite, is a perfect blend of all of those sounds, topped off by Ibrahim’s deeply soulful vocals. Originally released only in South Africa and digitally on Bandcamp, her album still managed to get shortlisted for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize and has since been made available in North America. Hers is a thrillingly fresh sound, with hints of everything from Sade to Björk. For Ibrahim, who traveled constantly during the album’s production, her music is simply a product of who she is. “Coming together in South Africa, in Canada, in my brain and in transit, to me, a Canadian identity is all of that,” she says. “That’s my Canadian-ness.”