Mojo Ruiz de Luzuriaga, known professionally as Mo'Ju[1] and previously as Mojo Juju, is an Australian musician, best known for their 2018 album Native Tongue and the lead single of the same title. The single won the Best Independent Single category in the 2019 AIR Awards. They play guitar and piano, write songs and sing, and have created music in a number of genres.
Mo'Ju has toured with international performers and their music has been featured in a number of television shows. Their identity is a matter of pride and they have spoken publicly and through their music about being Wiradjuri, Filipino and queer.
Early life
Mojo Ruiz de Luzuriaga was born in regional New South Wales. Their father is Filipino, from Bacolod City, Negros and their mother is mixed race, of Wiradjuri and European heritage.[2] Their family moved around the region when they were a young child due to their Father's work, but their grandparents lived in Dubbo where they attended high school. They have spoken openly about feeling like an outsider through their childhood and how this laid the grounds for their exploration of cultural identity in their work. Their father speaks, but did not teach them, Spanish, Ilonggo or Tagalog language.[3]
Mojo grew up around music with a number of musicians in their mother's family. They had a few piano lessons before starting to play the guitar aged eight.[4]
In a 2019 interview with SBS TV's The Feed Mo'ju said: "Traditions are really important and family histories give you an insight into your own identity. Songwriting is a huge part of keeping those oral traditions alive."[5]
Mo'ju was interviewed in the documentary film Her Sound, Her Story, along with a large number of high profile women in the Australian music industry.[12]
2006–2010: Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants
Between 2006 and 2010, Mojo fronted a band called Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants.[13] The band released two independent albums, Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants (2007) and Sellin' You Salvation (2009) before splitting.[14]
A compilation of earlier material, Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants – Anthology, was released in 2015 on European label Off-Label Records. to coincide with the release of German film Bestefreunde, whose soundtrack was composed entirely of songs from the band's back catalogue.[15]
2012–2015: Going solo
In January 2012, Ruiz de Luzuriaga released their eponymous (performing as Mojo Juju at the time) debut solo album on ABC Music. It featured the singles "Horse Named Regret" and "Must Be Desire",[16] and was in a blues style, featuring a lot of guitar.[4]
In April 2015, they released their second solo studio albumSeeing Red/Feeling Blue, an album with more pop elements than the first, but touching on a range of genres. They used the piano to write it, and, wanting to develop a new sound, collaborated with their friend Ptero Stylus, who had been working with hip hop duo Diafrix, as well as musicians from soul acts the Putbacks and the Cactus Channel. It features the singles "A Heart Is Not a Yo-Yo" and "They Come and They Go".[4]
In August 2018, Mo'ju's third studio album Native Tongue was released, after four years in the making.[17] The album explored their family history, identity and race politics.[18][17]
They have spoken of the highly personal nature of the album and the single, saying they were about “allowing yourself to own all those different parts of who you are”. Responding to criticism by right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt, who described the title track of the album as a complaint, Mo'ju said that it was in fact an “expression of some complex emotions, such as grief for a loss of culture and Indigenous languages and other impacts of assimilation, colonisation and the white-washing of non-western cultures. This is not a song of self-pity, [but rather]...a song of self-empowerment”.[19]
The Pasefika Vitoria Choir feature on the title track, which is produced by Malaysian-Australian hip hop artist Joelistics;[17] other artists on the album include Lay the Mystic, Mirrah, and Joshua Tavares.[20] Mo'ju's brother, Steve "T-Bone" Ruiz de Luzuriaga, and Melbourne-based producer and musician Yeo, were the backing musicians on the track.[17]
Mo'ju said that performing this new material "reignited their passion and purpose for music", but has also spoken out about the way women of colour and other diverse artists have been subject to tokenism in the industry.[21]
2019-2020: Ghost Town
Chicago Tribune listed Mo'ju (then Mojo Juju) as one of the top 12 acts to showcase at SXSW in 2019.[22]
In May 2019 Mo'ju appeared as a featured artist on the single "Black Child" by Birdz.[23]
In June 2019 Mo'ju joined A.B. Original as a guest vocalist for their live performance on the SummerStage in Central Park in New York.[24]
In November 2019, Mo'ju released the collaborative EP Ghost Town with Joelistics.
2021: O.K.
On 17 September 2021, Mo'ju released "Wave", the lead single from the forthcoming EP OK, scheduled for released in November 2021. In a statement Mo'ju said "These are sad songs but they were also part of a healing process. Music is pretty special like that and I am extremely grateful to have the tools to express myself and process my feelings through a creative practice."[25]
2022-present: Oro, Plata, Mata
In November 2022, Mo'ju released "Change Has to Come", the lead single from their fourth studio album, scheduled for released in March 2023.[26]Oro, Plata, Mata was announced in January, alongside single "Money".[27]
Personal life
Mo'ju uses they/them pronouns.[28] They stated that they have a "complex gender identity".[29]
The Australian Music Prize (the AMP) is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. It exists to discover, reward and promote new Australian music of excellence.[45]
The Music Victoria Awards (previously known as The Age EG Awards and The Age Music Victoria Awards) are an annual awards night celebrating Victorian music. They commenced in 2006.
The National Indigenous Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises the achievements of Indigenous Australians in music. Mojo Juju have won two awards
The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016.
