20-year-old Ossama Masut Khalid, commonly known as Okkama, is striking an entrance into the Rwandan music industry. Based in Rwanda, Ossama was born to a Rwandan Mother and Arabian father, and grew up with a huge passion for music. “In music is where my passion and career are. I felt it growing up, and then I started doing it,” said Ossama. The singer says that music gets him through his darkest days; he utilizes it as a form of healing for himself and believes that he can use it to heal others. “Music is my comfort zone and my safe space. It cools down my stress and gives me peace,” said Ossama As a former Music student at Ecole d’Art de Nyundo, Ossama said that he learned a lot of skills that are playing a huge role in his music career “The skills I got at school are the heart of my music career. I love music, but I learned a lot from my four years at Nyundo,” said Ossama Ossama, who is still new to the music industry, says that he can perform a wide range of song genres as a professional musician. His most recent song, Iyallah, has received a lot of attention and positive feedback, which he describes as a huge boost. “I don’t have one specific music genre. I do RnB, Afrobeat, trap, funk and blues,” said Ossama Ossama now has two songs Toto, which he released while he was still a student, and ‘Iyallah,’ a current hit in Rwanda and Africa. He is also working on his a debut album. “I always come back to my life story when writing a song or other people’s experiences because each person has a unique story, and as a musician, I tell it to the audience,” said Ossama when asked about his inspiration in writing music. “The biggest challenge was when I was still a student juggling music and my academics. It delayed me in my career and affected my school work,” said Ossama. Other than that being an artist without management can also be hard since you have to do everything by yourself,” he added. While Ossama is earning a large number of fans in his home country, he aspires to be an international music artiste, which he says he will achieve by working hard and creating his own distinctive music, as well as putting advice he receives to good use, not to forget his abilities. The singer is set to release a song with Kenny Sol soon.
