Genta Ismajli

Genta Ismajli, born Gentiana Ismajli in 1984 in Gjilan, is a Kosovo-Albanian singer, songwriter and actress whose music spans pop, R&B and dance. A few months after she was born her parents moved to Chicago, and she grew up in the United States before making her career in Kosovo and Albania. She now lives in Pristina.

At nineteen she came to Kosovo. Her breakthrough was "Kthehu", which she sang on Radio Television of Kosovo's New Year's programme, and "Dridhem" became a hit as well; both are on her first album, Mos më shiko, released in 2004. She settled in Kosovo after that.

In 2005 she won Kënga Magjike with "S'dua tjetër", composed by Adrian Hila, taking the first prize and the internet prize, and released her second album, Më e fortë jam unë, with "Luj me mu", which won best popular video at the 2006 Video Fest Awards. Her third album, Posesiv, came out in 2006; with its title song, written by Darko Dimitrov with lyrics by Avni Qaili, she represented Kosovo at the Euro Video Grand-Prix in Tirana. The same year she won the second prize, the internet prize and the audience prize at Poli Fest.

She finished second in the first season of Dancing with the Stars in Albania. In 2008 she released Zero Zero, an album sung entirely in English, much of it written by the songwriter Kara DioGuardi, who also wrote and produced its single "Planet Me"; the album was nominated for best album at the 2009 Kult Awards. Guximi, half in English and half in Albanian, followed in 2011, and the compilation Dekada in 2014.

She has won several Zhurma Show Awards, among them Best Pop in 2010 and Best Dance in 2011, and in 2014 she returned to Kënga Magjike to win the best performer award with "Maje". She has recorded with DJ Dalool, DJ Blunt & Real 1, Etnon and Ardian Bujupi.