Robbi Hall Kumalo is a producer, musician, performer, poetess and song writer. Singing and playing piano since a child, Robbi's performed with a host of legendary artists: Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Dave Matthews, Edie Brickell, John Hiatt, Rod Stewart, Mary J. Blige, and Harry Belafonte among others.
Her solo career as a vocalist, Robbi's larger-than-life stage presence and enticingly beautiful voice to many diverse settings for several decades - especially for school aged people.
A 26 year member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Robbi's sang numerous TV and radio commercials too. Her early years in NYC included work as an extra on sitcoms, dramas, and films. She an active voiceover artist, currently "Juneper" in FunkyiPuppets - premiering on ClubHouse before the big screen.
An active member of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and a voting member of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), the org responsible for the Grammy's.
As a songwriter and publisher with ASCAP. All One Tribe - a Grammy nominated!
Her break from the suburbs to Brooklyn, NY happened from a hand written letter to a burgeoning film company. A young Spike Lee hired Robbi to work as a production secretary in his Fort Greene production office, 40 Acres & a Mule. While learning the film industry from the inside, she encountered many of the musicians that recorded on film's soundtracks. Profound artists like Maxine Roach, Branford Marsalis, Jimmy Owens and jazz bass legend and Spike's father, Bill Lee befriended Robbi until her path changed. She transitioned on to work for Paul Simon music where she met her ex-husband, bassist Bakithi Kumalo we all know from the Graceland album.
Robbi is also passionate about arts education. She has spent nearly 40 years working with educators all over the globe as a Teaching Artist of Aesthetic Education and as a Teaching Artist with New Jersey State Council for the Arts, NJPAC, and The Tilles Center. Using the arts as a tool to connect to curriculum in history as well as culture and ethics, Robbi has produced joyous and exhilarating programs for school-age children, for venues including the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA). Her presentations combine music, theater, and culture to break from the Euro-centric norm and bring the world community to children.
Whether as a storyteller to young audiences, engaging high school students, or improvising with senior musicians. Robbi conveys strong messages about character and inspiring young people to be loving and open-minded participants in the global community. She speaks five languages—English, Spanish, French, German, Zulu, and Italian—and she often performs as a host of characters that incorporate a variety of accents, dialects, and idioms.
Robbi has released three CDs for children, including Set It Free, Keep the Beat! (winner of a 2003 Parents’ Choice Award) and Music Makes Me Happy (winner of a 2007 Parents’ Choice Silver Award and an iParenting Award of Excellence).
In 2014, Robbi received recognition for contributing a song to an award-winning album Absolutely Positively Getting Along. Created by a nonprofit of the same name, the work was commissioned by Big Brothers Big Sisters to nurture children by strengthening communities.
In 2021, her song Set It Free was Grammy Nominated on the album, ALL ONE TRIBE, a family music collection of African Native American artists who gathered during the pandemic to heal.
Robbi performs bi-lingually and internationally as a storyteller, musician and as a wellness advocate for people with challenges to their abilities. She currently lives in Oregon state and is once again in the studio making PODCAST recordings for adults and children.
