Omwana had 997k views and Ngonze 1.9m views at the time of publishing this story.
Who is Joshua Baraka, the Nana hitmaker?
The video of Joshua Baraka's hit song Nana has racked up two million views on YouTube in just three months, putting it ahead of Juliana Kanyomozi's Omwana, which was released around the same time and Rema's Ngonze, dropped two months earlier.
Joshua Baraka
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Commenting on Nana's video, the comedian Anne Kansiime said: "My heart is swelling listening to this jam. Uganda to the Grammys again."
Meanwhile, Nana has been remixed by Ghanaian star King Promise, Nigerian crooner Joeboy and Sauti Sol's Bien.
The remix will be out on Thursday, May 25.
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Joshua Baraka is a songwriter, producer, instrumentalist and musician.
He grew up in Kazo, Kawempe division in Kampala.
Baraka opted to sing in English because he felt singers who convey jams in Luganda were already many.
He did a subject combination of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, or P.C.B., at A-Level at Mengo S.S.
He picked interest in music production while still at A-level.
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Joshua Baraka would get gigs to play piano and time for school reduced. He performed poorly at A-level.
For O-Level, he went to Makerere College School and before that, Kitante Primary School.
After A-level, he tried pursuing nursing, then switched to architecture but things weren't shifting.
Initially, he wasn't committed to singing on stage, but in 2020, a friend figured he could do it, so he convinced him to take a gig.
The first gig was to perform at a wedding, where he renditioned three songs and he was paid Shs800k.
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That amount convinced him he didn't need to go back to school.
He has said the other reason he didn't fall for singing in Luganda is because he couldn't enunciate words properly.
According to Joshua Baraka, the first song that people embraced and landed him notable gigs is Tewekweka. It’s off the Baby Steps album.
On the production side, he has worked on projects with Rickman Manrick and other projects are in the offing.
Bob Marley and Chronixx are among his role models.
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Given an opportunity, Joshua Baraka would love to collaborate with Sheebah Karungi, Winnie Nwagi, Kateleya and Kandle, Nava Gray, Maurice Kirya, Kohen Jayce, An-Known, Big Trill
He has already worked on some projects with A Pass and Azawi.
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