Ras Judah

Born in Botswana, Southern Africa, in the 1970s, Samuel Judah Seomeng aka Ras Judah
grew up in a household filled with music through both his parents, and rich cultural heritage
in the form of African folklore through his great grandfather. Both Judah’s parents are
devoted Christians who would not allow any of their kids miss a day at church, and that was
the place where Judah enjoyed the art of singing. Judah’s great grandfather Raphate,
entertained Judah and his siblings when they were young children with African folk tales.
Apart from his passion for music, Ras Judah is a published author of two African folk tale
books (Dimo and Chiwelo and Dimo and the little bush doctor, Published by Pyramid
Publishing, Botswana 2004), and he is a recording/performing musician with three solo
albums and numerous collaborative projects with other musicians and bands, both in
Aotearoa and in Botswana.
Judah immigrated to NZ with his family sixteen years ago (in 2004) and has since become a
recognizable face in venues and events in many parts of Aotearoa. He spent his first nine
years in Nelson where he worked both as a solo performer and with his then Nelson based
band One Vibe. In addition to performing and touring regularly, Ras Judah also conducts
regular educational workshops teaching African drumming and Story-telling in schools,
school holiday programmes as well as offering individual and group tutorials.
In 2013 Ras Judah relocated to Wellington with the hopes of expanding his music networks
as well as to further his studies at Victoria University. Once in Wellington, Ras Judah started
the Culture Embassy Project, a ten-piece multicultural band, which has become a familiar
part of the Wellington music scene. In 2015, Ras Judah released the first full collaborative
album with Culture Embassy band. Alongside his solo work, Ras Judah and Culture Embassy
continue to frequent many of Wellington’s popular venues as well as to travel regularly
between the North and South Islands. Currently, Ras Judah is working on completing a new
single which is scheduled for release during spring of this year (2020).