Dua Saleh ( ar, دعاء صالح ',
Sudanese ) is a Sudanese-American singer and actor based in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. Their debut
EP ''Nūr'' was released in January 2019 by the Against Giants record label to critical acclaim, with their second, ''Rosetta'', released in June the following year.
Saleh, who came to the United States from
Sudan as a child, wrote poetry from an early age. While attending
Augsburg University
Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...
, they began to experiment with music, eventually releasing a demo in 2017. Shortly after, they began to work with local producer
Psymun
Simon Christensen, better known by his stage name Psymun, is an American record producer based in Minnesota. He was a member of Thestand4rd alongside Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Corbin.
Early life and education
Christensen graduated from Sa ...
and began performing their music live, culminating in their 2019 EP release. Their music has been characterized as rap, pop, and R&B, although they have also been described as defying genres. In addition to writing and recording music, Saleh has also acted in
theater in Minneapolis and is known for their recurring role as Cal Bowman in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
series ''
Sex Education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...
''.
Early life
Saleh was born in
Kassala
Kassala ( ar, كسلا) is the capital of the state of Kassala in eastern Sudan. Its 2008 population was recorded to be 419,030. Built on the banks of the Gash River, it is a market town and is famous for its fruit gardens.
Many of its inhabit ...
, Sudan, to a family with
Tunjur
__NOTOC__
The Tunjur (or Tungur) people are a Sunni Muslim ethnic group living in eastern Chad and western Sudan. In the 21st century, their number has been estimated at 175.000 people.
History
Based on linguistic and archaeological evidence, th ...
heritage, who are originally from
Chad/
Darfur.
Saleh's family became refugees of the
Second Sudanese Civil War
The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated ...
in the 1990s.
They fled Sudan when Saleh was five years old and moved several times, first to
Eritrea, then to
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
, and
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.[Rondo
The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period.
Etymology
The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round".
Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...]
neighborhood of
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...
.
Saleh attended
Saint Paul Central High School
Saint Paul Central High School is the oldest high school in the state of Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866 in downtown Saint Paul, Central has educated many leaders in business, government, literature, arts, sciences, and education through ...
and has cited an awareness of danger, systemic oppression, and resistance in their upbringing as a source for their interest in
community organizing.
After graduating from high school, Saleh studied at
Augsburg University
Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the u ...
where they double-majored in
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
and
gender, women's, and sexuality studies.
During their time at Augsburg, they led a
walkout
In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace and withholding labor as an act of protest.
A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an ...
from their former high school through the St. Paul Youth and Collegiate Branch of the
NAACP in protest of the
school-to-prison pipeline
In the United States, the school-to-prison pipeline (SPP), also known as the school-to-prison link, school–prison nexus, or schoolhouse-to-jailhouse track, is the disproportionate tendency of minors and young adults from disadvantaged backgroun ...
at Central.
Saleh has also been involved with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, the Pan Afrikan Student Union, the
Minnesota Public Interest Research Group
The Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (also known as MPIRG) describes itself as "a grassroots, non-partisan, nonprofit, student-directed organization that empowers and trains students and engages the community to take collective action ...
, and Augsburg's LGBTQIA Student Services.
They graduated from Augsburg in 2017.
Career
Saleh began writing poetry when they were four years old and performed at their first
open mic
An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether t ...
in their senior year of high school.
They used poetry to process experiences in their life and continued performing around the
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities ...
area while in school at Augsburg.
Their poem "Pins and Needles" was recorded and shared on
Button Poetry
Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by Neil Hilborn that the Knight Foundation c ...
's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channel where it garnered tens of thousands of views by 2017 and over one hundred thousand by 2018.
They have also performed as part of the Queer Voices series at
Intermedia Arts.
While studying at Augsburg and working full-time, Saleh began to find that poetry was not giving them "enough nurturing sustenance".
They said of this time that "I was trying to do way too much, and my body was just like, 'No, you need to release something.' The melodies started coming in, and I think that was my body reacting and wanting to heal me, in some ways."
Saleh did not consider themself to be a proficient singer but connected via a mutual friend to producer Mike Frey to experiment with recording.
In Frey's home studio, he played a four-
bar beat that Saleh mumbled over until Saleh announced they were ready to record; Frey expected four or eight bars from Saleh but Saleh ended up performing an entire track in a single
take
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.
Film
In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...
, with Frey manually extending the beat to keep up as Saleh sang.
According to Frey, the resulting single take was "such a good performance that we decided this is what we're going to run with"; it was released on May 10, 2017, as "First Take", Saleh's first
single, under the stage name Dua.
Following the single's release, Minneapolis producer
Psymun
Simon Christensen, better known by his stage name Psymun, is an American record producer based in Minnesota. He was a member of Thestand4rd alongside Allan Kingdom, Bobby Raps, and Corbin.
Early life and education
Christensen graduated from Sa ...
reached out to Saleh about working together; this surprised Saleh who was familiar with Psymun's work but thought he was based in the United Kingdom.
"First Take" was well-received online and was followed by the release of Saleh's first Psymun-produced single, a performance at the
Eaux Claires
Eaux Claires, also known as the Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival, is a two-day music and arts festival that took place for four years in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The festival took a year-long hiatus in 2019 but was expected to return in 2020, be ...
festival, and a collaboration with Florida rapper Chester Watson ("Void Interlude").
Saleh stated they were not in a rush to put out music but that by October 2018, they had "a lot of fuckin' songs" recorded and intended to release an EP later in the year.
Local alternative newspaper ''
City Pages'' listed Saleh at number four that year on their annual Picked to Click list of new artists the publication's writers were excited about.
Saleh's debut EP, ''Nūr'', was released on January 3, 2019, on the Against Giants label under their full name, Dua Saleh.
The five-track ''Nūr'' received positive reviews from ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' and
Robert Christgau and was supported by a music video release for the song "Warm Pants" that April.
They released two more videos that year, for "Sugar Mama" in October and for their new single "Pretty Kitten" in December.
By early 2020, Saleh was noted in the ''
Minnesota Daily
The ''Minnesota Daily'' is the campus newspaper of the University of Minnesota, published Monday and Thursday while school is in session, and published weekly on Wednesdays during summer sessions. Published since 1900, the paper is currently the la ...
'' as having a national following.
Saleh characterized their musical success as feeling like an accident to them, and said that they were still in the process of developing their identity as a musician.
Their next EP, ''Rosetta'', was released in June 2020 and their third, ''Crossover'', came out October 2021.
On May 30, 2020, Saleh released the single "body cast" to address police brutality. Proceeds from the song's download on Bandcamp are being donated to the Minneapolis-based justice organization,
Black Visions Collective
Black Visions Collective (BLVC) is an American nonprofit organization for black liberation based in Minnesota, founded in December 2017. The group intersects with transgender and LGBTQ communities. Active in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropoli ...
.
The track includes audio clips from a 2019 viral video of Angela Whitehead standing up to police who illegally entered her home.
The song's video lists the names of unarmed African Americans killed by the police.
Saleh was cast in the third season of
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
's
comedy-drama ''
Sex Education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...
'' as the recurring character Cal.
Musical style and influences
Saleh lived what they described as a "super-sheltered" childhood and grew up listening mostly to older
Sudanese music and
Nancy Ajram
Nancy Nabil Ajram ( ar, نانسي نبيل عجرم, born May 16, 1983) is a Lebanese singer, television personality and businesswoman. Dubbed by Spotify as the " Queen of Arab Pop". With the support of her father, she began performing as ...
.
In high school, when they got a laptop, they listened to a great deal of
jazz from the 1940s and later turned their attention to
1990s hip hop.
Subsequently, Saleh "went through a year or two of finding as many queer artists as
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
could", citing
Mykki Blanco
Mykki Blanco (born April 2, 1986) is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Dev Hynes, Blood Orange.
Early life
Blanco was born in Orange ...
,
Le1f
Khalif Diouf, known by his stage name Le1f (), is an American rapper and producer. He also founded the record label Camp & Street, with Boody, DonChristian, and Chaz Requina. As a gay rapper he's garnered attention for his musical and performa ...
, and
Kilo Kish
Lakisha Kimberly Robinson (born May 10, 1990), known professionally as Kilo Kish, is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist.
Early life
Kilo Kish was born in Orlando, Florida, on May 10, 1990. She attended Glen Rock Elementary School in ...
among the artists during this period who "saved
heirlife".
They have also cited the music and lives of
Sister Rosetta Tharpe and
Marie Knight
Marie Knight (née Roach; June 1, 1920 – August 30, 2009) was an American gospel and R&B singer.
Life and career
She was born Marie RoachSeamus McGarvey, "Marie Knight: I Hear Music In the Air", interview and article in '' Juke Blues'' magaz ...
as influences, including naming their second EP after Tharpe.
Saleh said that among other reasons for making music, Sudan, there's a lot of queer, trans and non-binary people who are closeted, so I try to put out as much content that's like, the gay and trans agenda, as possible!"
On ''Rosetta'', Saleh released the track "Smut", sung partially in Arabic, hoping "to break into the Sudani market" and connect with Sudanese listeners.
Saleh's music has been categorized as rap,
pop,
and
R&B.
Christgau described Saleh's performance style on ''Nūr'' as rap-singing while Michelle Kim characterized their vocal performance style as alternating "between deliciously tactile rapping and spellbinding singing".
Saleh also been noted for defying genre in their music.
Personal life
Saleh's first language was Arabic, which they said in 2017 was a "struggle to maintain" because of their immersion in English.
Saleh is Muslim, but they do not consider themself "religious in the institutional sense".
They have discussed their relationship with traditions of
Islamic attire, stating that traditional "attire isn't reflective of
heirpersonal relationship with the
deen, but reflective of the image of a Muslim that
hey'vebeen indoctrinated to believe is socially accepted". In high school, they were elected vice president of Central's
gay–straight alliance
A Gay–Straight Alliance, Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) or Queer–Straight Alliance (QSA) is a student-led or community-based organisation, found in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities. These are primarily in the United ...
; when their mother discovered pamphlets for the organization in their backpack, she sent Saleh to Dugsi Academy, an Islamic charter school in Saint Paul.
In addition to writing and performing music and poetry, Saleh has also acted, including in 20% Theatre Company's November 2018 production of ''Waafrika 123'' in Minneapolis.
Saleh is
non-binary
Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
and uses ''
they/them
Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentence ...
'' and ''
xe/xim/xyr'' pronouns.
They
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as non-binary while in their second year at Augsburg but have said they "always been on gay shit".
They live in Minneapolis.
Discography
EPs
* ''Nūr'' (2019)
* ''Rosetta'' (2020)
* ''Crossover'' (2021)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saleh, Dua
Living people
People from Kassala (state)
Musicians from Minneapolis
Rappers from Minneapolis
Non-binary musicians
American non-binary actors
LGBT rappers
American LGBT singers
American LGBT poets
Poets from Minnesota
Augsburg University alumni
Musicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota
Actors from Minneapolis
American Muslims
21st-century Sudanese singers
Sudanese emigrants to the United States
Year of birth missing (living people)
LGBT African Americans
LGBT people from Minnesota
LGBT Muslims
Sudanese actors
Sudanese Muslims
21st-century Sudanese poets
Sudanese rappers
21st-century LGBT people
Sudanese LGBT artists
American non-binary writers