Dua Saleh puts on a magnetic & vibrant show in Lausanne

It was yesterday at the Festival de la Cité, a significant event in Lausanne’s cultural life since 1968. On the 100m² stage of the Grand Canyon, the musician, poet, activist, and actor Dua Saleh gave a bewitching yet vibrant performance to the exhilarated throng.

Dua Saleh first got known through their music, with their major 2019 EP “Nūr” and their single “Sugar Mama”, still their most streamed track at the moment. Forced to flee from Sudan as a child during the Second Civil War, they settled in Minnesota, where they are still based to this day. Always drawn towards poetry, they turned towards music when poems didn’t seem like enough.

If you don’t know Dua Saleh but their face feels familiar, you probably saw them as cool skater Cal in the latest season of Netflix’s Sex education. They were also behind some of the soundtracks in Généra+ion, a similar HBO Max series on high school students exploring their sexuality, which was sadly canceled after one season (adding to the very long list of aborted queer tv shows).

During their performance yesterday at the Festival de la Cité, they had the opportunity to play songs from their last EP, CROSSOVER, out in October 2021. This newest release shows a wider range of Saleh’s music, with more electronic soundtracks and hyperpop and reggaeton influences. Speaking of hyperpop, Dua Saleh paid homage to the queen of hyperpop herself, dedicating one of their latest singles, macrodosing, to the legendary SOPHIE.

Overall, Dua Saleh has a mesmerizing stage presence and their growing range promises more and more exciting releases. With no more dates announced for this summer, you’ll have to wait if you want to get the chance to climb on stage to dance with Saleh, a chance a very driven front row fan got last night (no hint of jealousy in this sentence!).

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Pictures © Jessy Marchetti