I would like to thank Edna Sims for inviting me to a great event at the Grammy Museum last night. An event called The Moja Saga.
The acoustics bouncing off the tall buildings provided great sound and an amazing backdrop for the event.
The show had great African music and other genres performed by live talent and provided a great history lesson about African music and its influence.
It was also great to see Edna, Michael Nixon, Lee Bailey (EUR Web), Jane Eugene (Loose Ends), and comedian Lunell. Great food from Wolfgang Pucks was also served. Read more information about The Moja Saga below and see a video from the show.
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Discover one of the largest projects in music history MOJA: A Music Saga, the history of Black Music from the drums of Africa through the diaspora and the horrors of slavery to America’s Gospel, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Rock, and Hip-Hop.
The story of MOJA: A Music Saga Experience will be told on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at the GRAMMY Museum, 800 W. Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015, beginning with a Red-Carpet event at 6 pm., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. and a mind-blowing show featuring African Dancers in authentic costumes, plus three live bands playing music rooted in Africa, that spans the diaspora, from Africa to Cuba and the U.S. The music alone will take you on a musical and educational journey that will inspire your soul.
The epic event will also include live appearances by producer, rapper, and singer Darius McCrary (Transformers, Mississippi Burning, Family Matters) and Emmy Award-winning, three-time Grammy nominee Blues artist Billy Branch. Both lent their talents to the narration of MOJA: A Music Saga as voice actors on the eight-volume audio history-making collection.
The 75-song musical event took five years to complete. It utilized the talents of 500 musicians, singers, artists, producers, Grammy Award winners and nominees from around the globe.
Grammy-nominated musician, producer, writer and creator of MOJA: A Music Saga, Carl Gustafson said, “Integrity toward the music is paramount. The songs about Africa were recorded in Africa by Africans. The songs of Cuba were recorded in Cuba by Cubans. Same in New Orleans, Chicago, Mississippi, England, and everywhere else the story went.”
MOJA: A Music Saga is an audio adventure that skillfully uses skits, sound effects, and original music to tell the story of how African music has influenced American music through seven generations of the Ellis family. The family’s story starts with Moja Musiki, a.k.a. Moja Ellis, a tall, attractive, strong African female drummer who was taken from her home in East Africa and sold into slavery in New Orleans in the 1850s.
She survived the perils of slavery and raised her son Bili Ellis using her music skills. The Ellis family gift of music was then passed down to Bili’s daughter, musician and bandleader Tattie, her son Innes, and his daughter Tanya, ending in today’s time with Moja’s great-great grandson, Hip-Hop star Sitano and his two-year-old daughter Sabbath.
Through the narrators Billy Branch (Innes) and Darius McCrary (Sitano), this 165-year journey of driven souls is told through the music and stories of seven characters of seven generations, following the progression and changing styles of African-rooted music in America from the 1800s to the 2000s.
Executive produced by two-time Grammy Award-winning Blues great Bobby Rush, and world-renowned Djembe master, Weedie Braimah, MOJA: A Music Saga immerses the listener in an entertaining, dramatic, sometimes gritty, and realistic history lesson of a people and their music from slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow and segregation to the civil rights era.
MOJA: A Music Saga is set to have an international impact on music lovers and historians alike, changing the world’s view of Africa’s influence on American Music forever.
For more information or to stream MOJA: A Music Saga visit www.mojasaga.com
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About Carl Gustafson, Writer and Producer of MOJA: A Music Saga
Born in Deadwood, S. Dakota, Grammy nominee, musician, producer, adventurer, and writer, Carl Gustafson, grew up in Laramie, Wyoming where his first jobs were on cattle ranches as a teenager. He formed his first band at eighteen years old after falling in love with soul, old R&B, James Brown Funk, and Blues. Music has taken him to forty- four countries including eight trips to Africa where he traveled coast to coast.
Carl’s band, Blinddog Smokin’, was dubbed “America’s Road Warriors” by Southland Blues Magazine for their relentless touring schedule. Along the backroads they met Blues Great, Bobby Rush, and Carl and he became fast friends and remained so over the decades, and periodically tour together. They used to discuss and ponder the origins of the music they loved, and it led to a twelve-song road show depicting the journey of African -influenced music over time. But before they even started, they realized they were only scratching the surface, and the concept of what has now become the Moja project was born.
Carl is the author of the book, Ain’t Just Blues, It’s Showtime, has been a columnist for many magazines, and was recently elected to the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame. Carl and his band’s songwriting and recording with Dr. John and Bobby Rush landed them Backbeat Magazine’s Blues Album of the year, Blues Blast Magazine’s Soul Blues Album of the year, and took them to the Grammys. Carl has written and recorded over 200 songs. He lives in Laramie, Wyoming with his wife Linda. He has three daughters, a son, a stepdaughter, and six grandchildren.
