Fusing musical cultures
Mo’ Mojo, a Zydeco based Pardi Gras band, is currently touring Sri Lanka and relishing every moment.
As per Jen Maurer, their vocalist/diatonic accordion, “everyone is like a bouncing sun or bouncing planets in an orbit and you just come together in each other’s orbit for one minute, then you’re off in the universe again which is nice.”
The band arrived this month, as a part of the American Music Abroad (AMA) programme, organized by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs. Their first stop was Jaffna. The band conducted several music workshops and a concert on their final day. They also performed at the Mardi Gras Music festival, which was held recently at Park Street Mews.
As per the programme, the department would pick ten bands as musical ambassadors, to go out to different countries for about a month or more. Mo’ Mojo first got their chance to tour in 2014. Sri Lanka is their ninth country.
We met up with the band, just before their performance in Colombo recently.
They talk about Jaffna, recalling that it was a wonderful experienceand amazed at the talent, the North had to offer. The band also got an opportunity to perform with a local band on stage. “This will be memorable for life because, it felt so nice to be connected on stage with another band from Sri Lanka.”
After their visit to Jaffna, the band were inspired to put together a world video, featuring a song they wrote with vocalists from different countries they visited. “We could connect with those musicians again and ask them to send their vocals; we could start with our singers from Jaffna, because they were really good,” Jen tells us.
As for travelling around the world their percussionist/ rub board player, Leigh Ann Wise, tells us, “it’s that little sensation of a new adventure. You don’t wanna have it be familiar, but you wanna be able to walk around all the streets, spend time and just take it in on a very normal day kind of basis.”
It’s not just limited to that though, she adds. Getting to come and make a positive influence is all part of it.
Jen explains, that to her, going to other countries with a purpose, is using music in a very different way to what the band is used to, back home. “It’s got a different feeling, with a great sense of purpose to it.”
She adds the first time, she did it, she was incredibly grateful for it. “Prior to that, my experience in a band,was playing for grown adults at music venues. We were having drinks socializing. Maybe we were background music, maybe they were dancing to it,” she recalls. However, coming into these environments and teaching people of all ages and“exchanging with another culture,” that was the biggest gift, she adds.
Their bassist, Toussaint English,chimes in at this point. “Studying musicology in college and coming here, this is the first time I’ve experienced that, the music is more spiritual. It’s really connected and I feel that connection and it’s incredible,” he tells us.
Per the band, back home, their music is more dance melodies. But you can tell, it brings people together, because they want to have a good time. And when you’re having a good time, you don’t want to be upset at the world. “We get that same thing here, we’re still trying to bring people together but it’s so much more magnified,” Jen says.
Mo’ Mojo was formed back in 1995, by Scott Texas Gann. He moved out from east Texas to Ohio and brought with him an accordion, which he played. “We said let’s start a band and the drummer actually booked a gig, before we had a band, so it was a mad rush, to learn how to play this music,” Jen recalls.
Almost 22 years later, even though Scott passed away (in 2002), the band still carries on that tradition. “It has a lineage to it, it’s had a lot of people who come in and out. We’ve had death in the band, we’ve had divorces in the band, we’ve had all sorts of change ups, but we keep going,” she says.
According to the American Embassy, Public Affairs officer, James Russo, these bands are brought with the hope of sharing aspects of the American culture, that is not known internationally. He tells us that Zydeco music is a unique genre. It’s based in South Louisiana, but it’s a multicultural mix of different musical styles.
Once Mo’ Mojo is done with their activities, they hope to stay on a little longer and travel around the country. “And this will be the first time, where we’ve done that,” Leigh Ann Wise, tells us as she looks on, the excitement eminent in her eyes.
Pix by Ranjith Perera