One to watch: Dua Saleh

<p>The Sudanese American singer and Sex Education actor’s forthcoming debut album is a fearless, sensual delight</p><p><a href="https://www.duasaleh.com/">Dua Saleh</a> is probably best known for memorably playing the role of Cal Bowman in <em>Sex Education</em>. But the 29-year-old Sudanese American has also been a poet, an activist and – perhaps a natural culmination of these two – has a longstanding career making genre-spanning music that centres queer desire.</p><p>Since 2017, the artist’s songs have folded in rap, indie, rock, jazz and R&amp;B with poignant musings on love, self and grief. Saleh has previously said their comfort in making such unapologetic self-explorations is rooted in finding their voice from a young age. Their family were refugees from the second Sudanese civil war, moving from place to place before eventually settling in the US, in Minneapolis. There, a teenage Saleh led a high school walkout in protest against the disproportionate school-to-prison link for disadvantaged young people, acutely aware of injustice and the need for collective action and care.</p><p><em><a href="https://www.duasaleh.com/music/i-should-call-them">I Should Call Them</a> </em>is out on 11 October via Ghostly International</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/aug/10/one-to-watch-dua-saleh-i-should-call-them-sex-education-actor-sudanese-american">Continue reading...</a>