Singer Maua Sama debuted her warm, R&B-inflected Afro-pop on singles including "Mahaba Niue" in 2015. She had her international breakthrough with "Iokote" in 2018. Born and raised in Tanzania, Maua Sama started singing in childhood, with her parents stressing the importance of education over music. After she graduated from high school, a couple of her songs made their way to Mwana FA, who helped introduce her to industry contacts. She soon traveled to Dar es Salaam and recorded tracks including "So Crazy" (featuring Mwana FA) and "Mahaba Niue," both of which were released in 2015. She continued to issue songs over the next several years to little fanfare and was considering giving up on music when 2018's "Iokote" became a multinational hit. The song garnered over ten million streams across platforms by the time a remix featuring rapper Rostam appeared in 2020. That year, she also released singles including "Nioneshe" and "Binua," the latter featuring Jaivah. ~ Marcy Donelson