Kya Loum

Senegalese artist Kya Loum, born Rokhaya Loum, first drew notice for a supple and nimble neo-soul approach colored by jazz, which she delivers equally on vocals and guitar while also folding in blues, rock, and traditional Senegalese elements. Early encounters with the work of Aretha Franklin and Myriam Makeba shaped her direction, and she surfaced from Dakar’s music community at the start of the 2010s. Three tracks on the 2013 Henguilla release Dadje featured her voice, among them the Bouba Kirikou duet “Crazy.” The pair then joined the French television showcase Music Explorer, les Chasseurs de Sons in 2014; Loum advanced through multiple Senegalese stages before claiming the overall prize in Paris that June. Steady live work continued to raise her profile, and the single “Sama Lamp” appeared on the TME imprint in the first months of 2017. During the same year, U.K. chart-topper Joss Stone traveled to Senegal for a recorded collaboration that she later posted online. In 2020 Loum added her voice to legendary Senegalese singer Thione Seck’s track “Tu Seras.”