Next month, Woodville Town Hall (in Adelaide) will play host to November Nights – a two-night festival featuring a diverse range of female performers coming together to celebrate and illuminate female representation in the music industry.
One of the headliners is Mojo Juju. This woman oozes soul, R&B and blues like no other, and fits the bill for November Nights to a 'T'.
Mojo has been releasing music since 2006, spending her formative years with her former band, Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants. More than a decade later, Mojo still has the fire in her belly and a thirst for creativity. “The main thing, at the end of the day, is that I f...ing love music! I'm never happier than when I am writing music.
“So that is what perpetuates the thing, I love music. I also don't know what else I would do,” Mojo says. “It's all I've wanted for the longest time, so it's hard for me to imagine doing anything else.”
Mojo's numerous accolades have propelled her reputation in the music scene and has drawn a slew of both Australian and international performers into her orbit, including fellow November Nights headliner Ella Hooper.
Ella's inclusion on the festival's line-up was one of the deciding factors when Mojo was approached to be part of November Nights. “Ella is a very dear friend of mine, so I'll take any opportunity to work with her.
“When you're performers and you're on different trajectories, you don't get to see your friends play because you're always touring and doing gigs. . . sometimes literally the only way is if you end up on the same bill together. . . so when I heard she was there I was like 'I'm down. If Ella's there, I'm there!'”
Mojo attributes some of her success to the unapologetic and raw honesty in both her lyrics and musical composition. “For me, it's about authenticity. It's about doing the thing that serves the song [best]. It's about what's best for that particular piece of music.
"It's not about sounding a certain way. It's about doing what is best by the song. The other thing I live by, is that I do not like to repeat myself. I don't want to make the same record twice; challenging yourself and pushing yourself outside the comfort zone [is important] when you're being creative.”
Mojo's authenticity and ethos has most recently seen her take out the awards for best song and album at the National Indigenous Music Awards.
This industry success has created a wave of self-actualisation for Mojo, as she's revelled in the notion of having acknowledgement from her own community. “It's been a real journey, it's been a real struggle. I've not always felt like I've had access to certain parts of my own identity.
"Whether that's internalised or whether it's from external factors, I've often thought that I'm not enough of any of the factors that make up who I am to be allowed to any of these spaces.
“So for me, it was particularly special to have communities that I identify with reciprocate that acknowledgment. It was so special to me.”
Mojo Juju headlines November Nights at Woodville Town Hall (Adelaide) 8 November.
Mojo Juju 2019 Tour Dates
14-15 Nov - Mullum Music Festival (Northern Rivers)Tue 19 Nov - QPAC (Brisbane)
Fri 22 Nov - Queenscliff Music Festival (VIC)
Tue 26 Nov - City Recital Hall (Sydney)
Fri 29 Nov - Melbourne Recital Centre
