Witch prophet

Witch Prophet is a Toronto-based, Ethiopian/Eritrean singer-songwriter, producer, and creative visionary who crafts immersive soundscapes built from vocal layers, loops, harmonies, and sharp lyrical delivery, all grounded in jazz fusion, trip-hop and soul-inspired production. Her work sits comfortably alongside artists like Erykah Badu, Greentea Peng, Lauryn Hill, Cleo Sol and Portishead.

Her music is a vessel for self-care, love, and survival. Drawing from ancestral memory and Afro-Futurism, she weaves perspectives that honour the people who shaped her life, centering the strength, resilience, and brilliance of Black womanhood. Each project becomes a portal for spiritual and personal discovery as she continues to navigate her cultural and queer identity.

Witch Prophet has shared stages with and opened for Sudan Archives, Tash Sultana, JPEGMAFIA, KeiyaA, CLIPPING, JELEEL!, Shabazz Palaces, Pierre Kwenders, Begonia, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Lido Pimienta, and more. She has toured Europe independently twice - performing in Paris, Amsterdam, London, and Berlin - and appeared at major festivals including Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Guelph Jazz Festivals, SXSW, School Night L.A (Toronto Edition), Beloved Festival, Soul of Brooklyn, Vancouver and Winnipeg Folk Festivals, PRIDE Toronto, New Skool Rules (Rotterdam), MaMA Festival (Paris), The Great Escape (UK) and others.

In 2020 she released her Ontario Arts Council–funded sophomore LP D.N.A Activation, a tribute to her Ethiopian and Eritrean roots, blending jazz, hip-hop, soul, and R&B in English, Amharic, and Tigrinya. The album was praised by critics and shortlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize, later followed by a deluxe edition featuring remixes with Stas THEE Boss and LATASHÁ.

Her music video “Tesfay,” directed by Leah Vlemmiks, earned nominations for the 2021 Prism Prize, 2021 Rhode Island International Film Festival, and 2021 SXSW Music Video Awards, and was further nominated for Best International R&B/Soul Video at the UKMVAs, alongside artists such as Beyoncé, Cardi B, Normani, The Weeknd, and Bryson Tiller.

In 2021 she was featured on a limited-edition Jackson-Triggs wine bottle through the winery’s national Local Artist Series, and also appeared in FIDO’s ‘With Care: Off Mute’ - an intimate artist-to-artist interview and performance series with Lido Pimienta.

On May 1, 2023, she released her third studio album, Gateway Experience - a deeply personal 11-track exploration of dreams, seizures, the brain, spirituality, and otherworldly states. Funded by Ontario Creates, the Canada Council for the Arts, and Radio Starmaker, the project was longlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize.

Simultaneously, Witch Prophet became the subject of ‘Leilani’s Fortune’, a feature-length documentary by Loveleen Kaur that traces her evolution as an artist and the challenges she has overcome. The film won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2023 InsideOut Film Festival. In 2024, she was honoured with the Women in Music Canada “Rising Leaders Award.”

Her forthcoming album, Words Are Spells / Thoughts Are Magic (March 18, 2026), marks her most expansive work yet - a dual-sided project exploring the power of language, thought, and intention. Produced by Witch Prophet and her wife/collaborator SUN SUN, the album merges ancestral resonance with contemporary soul, offering a transformative musical experience.

A magnetic performer and genre-defying storyteller, Witch Prophet continues to carve a singular path in today’s global music landscape.