Salmin Ismail Hoza, professionally known by his stage name Kusah, is a Tanzanian musician, singer and songwriter. He started getting attention as a songwriter but later rose to stardom after releasing songs such as Kelele, No Time, I Don't Care and I Wish which made him a household name in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

Early life

Salmin Ismail was born in Bumbuli, Lushoto Tanga. As a child, Kusah became interested in music and entertainment where he used to sing in gatherings and even penned their school's anthem. After finishing high school Kusah landed in Dar es Salaam where he resided at his grandfather's house but later moved out of his grandfather's house to focus on his music career. As a singer, Kusah is usually described as a Bongo Flava artist, who also sometimes explores other genres like

Afrobeats Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and ...

and

Afro-Pop African popular music (also styled Afropop, Afro-pop or Afro pop), like Music of Africa, African traditional music, is vast and varied. Most contemporary genres of African popular music build on cross-pollination with western popular music. M ...

. In 2022, Kusah was featured by the legendary and one of the founders of the Bongo Fleva genre

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, in a song titled Do Do

Career

Before his big break in the Tanzanian music industry, Kusah was a ghostwriter as he used to write songs for major A-List artists in Tanzania such as

Ali Kiba Ali Saleh Kiba (born 1986), best known as Ali Kiba or sometimes King Kiba, is a Tanzanian singer and songwriter. He is from Kigoma and the owner of Kings Music label. Ali Kiba released his album ''Cinderella'' which broke record as the best- ...

, Nandy,

Ben Pol Benard Michael Paul Mnyang'anga better known by his stage name Ben Pol, is a Tanzanian singer and songwriter from Dar es salaam, Tanzania. Music career His previous release “Ningefanyaje”, featured Kenyan artist Avril and ranked #1 on Sound ...

, Ruby, Hamisa Mobeto and many others. Kusah became a household name after releasing Kelele featuring Ruby in 2018 and from there he released many successful singles such a
I Don't Care
Nibebe, Mama Lao and I Wish which have amassed over 10 million streams on

Boomplay Boomplay or Boomplay Music is a media streaming and download service developed by Transsnet Music Limited. The service was first launched in Nigeria in 2015 by TECNO Mobile, Transsion Holdings. Boomplay has a freemium and subscription based s ...

. In September 2022, Kusah released his first project titled, Romantic EP featuring Nigeria's

Johnny Drille John Ighodaro (born July 5, 1990), professionally known as Johnny Drille, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. His career came into the spotlight when he released a cover of "Awww" by Di'Ja. He is currently signed to Mavin Records. Early life ...

and Kenya's Femi One. The project was critically acclaimed with Notjustok describing the EP as "Kusah's way of proving that he is the next Bongo Fleva Biggest Music Export." In 2022 he was nominated in The Tanzanian Music Awards as The Best Upcoming Artist and in the same year, he was ranked by various publications as one of the best upcoming artists in Tanzania 2022.

Personal life

Kusah is dating Tanzanian Bongo Movie Actress Known, as Aunty Ezekiel and the two are blessed with 2 kids. Their relationship is public and is usually a hot topic in the Tanzanian media.

Discography

*I Wish *I Don't Care *Karibu *Kelele *Utaniua *Te Amo *Tamu *On Fire *No Time *Huba ft ruby

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusah Living people Tanzanian musicians Swahili-language singers Tanzanian Bongo Flava musicians 21st-century Tanzanian male singers Year of birth missing (living people)