Bien
Afrobeats · Afropop
Bien, born Bien-Aimé Alusa Baraza in Nairobi, is a Kenyan singer, songwriter and guitarist and one of the four members of Sauti Sol. The band played…
Biography
Bien, born Bien-Aimé Alusa Baraza in Nairobi, is a Kenyan singer, songwriter and guitarist and one of the four members of Sauti Sol. The band played its farewell show at the Sol Fest in Nairobi in December 2023, by which point his solo career was already well under way.
He signed to the band’s own Sol Generation Records as a solo act and released the Bald Men Love Better EP in 2021 with pianist Aaron Rimbui. “Inauma” became the most-streamed Kenyan song on Spotify. His debut album Alusa Why Are You Topless? (2023) brought in Ayra Starr, Ms. Banks and Scar Mkadinali, and its 2024 deluxe added “Ma Cherie” with Fally Ipupa. That year he was Kenya’s most-streamed artist on Spotify.
His music mixes rhumba with Afrobeats and amapiano, and he often writes about politics, as on “Maandamano”. He shares a Grammy for his songwriting on Burna Boy’s Twice as Tall and won a Trace Award for Best Artist in Eastern Africa in 2025.
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