The Medford Haitian Oral History Project

Poet & Singer: Rebecca Noelle Zama

Rebecca Noelle Zama of Melrose was born in Washington D.C., and has been living in the Boston area since the age of 1. Growing up, she found her passion in singing and in music. Her mother, attorney Nunotte Zama, a Haitian native, heard her sing at the age of 3 and knew she was special. Since then she has been performing publicly all around Massachusetts, everywhere from galas to political events to fundraisers, beginning in the Boston Haitian community, and then branching out. She constantly tries a bit of her Haitian heritage, of which she is proud, into her music.

She specializes in jazz, r&b, blues, and pop but sings a bit of everything. She had no formal training until 2011, where she started taking voice lessons to perfect her technique.

In 2010 Rebecca released her first book of poetry entitled “Optimum Me”. The book was inspired by the earthquake which devastated major parts of Haiti in January 2010 and is sold to raise money to help Haiti, where she has taken seven humanitarian trips. You can read four poems from the book here.

She discovered songwriting at an early age, and recently released an album, Brighter Than The Sun, which is being featured on bam-radio.co, and on YouTube. In the 2014-2015 holiday season she is heading a charity tour in Haiti to benefit victims of the 2010 earthquake.

Rebecca is currently in high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has hopes of pursuing a career as a full time musician. Visit her official Website here.

Here Rebecca sings a traditional Haitian song,
"Haiti Cherie":

And here Sharon Kennedy interviews Rebecca: