Rafiki Jazz

Rafiki Jazz

Rafiki Jazz is a Sheffield-based group active since 2006. The ensemble plays world music and global dance music, drawing on jazz, Latin, African and Brazilian influences.

The group is a large collective of African and Latin diaspora musicians, local singers and instrumentalists. It is fronted by a vocal quartet from Yorkshire and includes human beatboxer UNome. The line-up also features Zanzibari singer Mim Suleiman, who records for Real World, along with Rosie Brown and Vanessa Rani Chutturghoon. Their performances combine multiple voices, languages, melodies and layered rhythms.

Rafiki Jazz releases material on its debut album More Big Muzik from Over There! (KONICD09). The group’s music is described as a fusion that brings together beatbox, berimbau, bossa-jazz, Swahili vocal styles and jazz-creole, with references to Brazil and Banjul in its cultural mix.