Naarm-based artist Mo’Ju’s previous full-length album, Native Tongue, sparked a lot of conversations about identity, heritage, and belonging in Australia.
Should it be said, even right-wing social and political commentator Andrew Bolt piped into the discourse. Mo’Ju, a third-culture artist of mixed Indigenous Australian, white Australian, and Filipino ethnicities, hit on the disconnect between place and identity experienced by a large number of Australians.
The conversations Native Tongue generated were largely positive but ultimately exhausting for Mo’Ju themselves.
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“I feel like there was a lot of talk about the last record – so it’s nice to have something fresh to talk about,” Mo’Ju says. “That album was deeply personal, and that song (namesake, Native Tongue) was deeply personal. And it was politicised… and it just came out at a time when everybody was ready to have this particular conversation, and I got caught up in the whirlwind of that.”
Five years later, they’re happy to be having a new conversation about new album, Oro, Plata, Mata.
Oro, Plata, Mata, Mo’Ju’s fourth studio album, pays homage to the work of their late uncle, acclaimed filmmaker Maurice Ruiz de Luzuriaga Gallaga (better known as Peque Gallaga).
Gallaga, whose filmography includes Shake, Rattle & Roll, Magic Temple, Tiyanak, and Sonata, is best known for directing Oro, Plata, Mata (Spanish: Gold, Silver, and Death), a historical war drama that earned him various awards, including from the International Film Festival of Flanders-Ghent and the Manila International Film Festival.
Oro, Plata, Mata, the film, is an epic that tells the story of two affluent Filipino families whose fortunes deteriorate in the course of Japan’s occupation of the Philippines during World War II.
Mo’Ju’s album has its own narrative but also shares commonalities with the film. The album, like the film, is split into three themed sections – ‘oro’ (gold), ‘plata’ (silver), ‘mata’ (death) – that nod to the Filipino architectural superstition that essentially forbids building in multiples of three, since the number ‘three’ in these sequences is counted as ‘mata’.
On Friday March 17, Mo’Ju and their band is performing the album alongside the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall.
They’ve just wrapped up three days of rehearsal with their band, playing the album end-to-end. It’s the first real opportunity the band has had to familiarise itself with performing the record live.
“It’s really just been really cool and fun to do,” says Mo’Ju. “I mean, there’s been a lot to figure out, because we made this album over the last couple of years in lockdown.
“A lot of it was done in isolation or these small snippets of time where we were able to be together. Figuring out how to do that live now has been challenging but fun.”
The familial thread throughout this record extends beyond Mo’Ju’s homage to their uncle.
They became a first-time parent during the making of the record, and Mo’Ju’s aunt, Madeline Galaga, voices introductions to each themed section of the record over instrumental interludes.
Mo’Ju’s longtime collaborator and bassist Harry Jenkins produced the new record, with further production from bandmates Lewis Coleman (keys, samples, BVs in the band) and Milan Ring (guitars and vocals in the band).
The songs are an ornate mix of traditional percussion, woodwind, piano, and synthetic electronic elements, all bedding under and around the electric force of Mo’Ju’s voice. The record, which encompasses soul, R&B, and hip-hop sensibilities at turns, is an epic for the concept album tradition.
Mo’Ju laughs when they think about how ambitious the record was.
“I think it’s a wild thing we’ve done – to look back at it now and say, ‘Wow, we really went to town.’
“I’ve said this so many times: I don’t want to make the same record twice. For me, a huge part of the creative process is about being outside of my comfort zone, and trying new things, and challenging myself.”
One of the silver linings of frequent lockdown periods during the pandemic was the opportunity it afforded Mo’Ju to dig really deep into the album.
Like a lot of great concept albums, Oro, Plata, Mata is built ground-up, layer on layer, with a fully concentrated vision.
“Usually I’d get to this point and be doubting it and hating it, and just looking forward to the next thing, and wondering how I could do better. But this time around… I’m really proud of this record… and I’m really excited to get to do that live.”
Mo’Ju’s strong start to 2023 follows a great 2022.
Last year included a slew of sold-out stadium shows supporting Hilltop Hoods on their national tour. Mo’Ju earned a Music Victoria Award nomination for Best, Soul, Funk, RnB, or Gospel release, a National Indigenous Music Awards nomination for Song of the Year, and a Rainbow Champion honour, in conjunction with WorldPride, for their outstanding contribution to the Australian LGBTQIA+ community and culture.
Oro, Plata, Mata’s thematic terrain is custodian for a wide range of big ideas, including those centring on the glorification of wealth and fame, political change, and eco and existential anxiety. At the same time, the record is designed for people to make their own meanings.
“You want to say enough that you evoke certain feelings and that it is relatable to people,” Mo’Ju says. “But you also want to leave enough space so that the listener is able to project their own meaning in between the lines.
“Then it becomes a personal experience for them. It is something that they feel very much like it is speaking directly to them.”
Mo’Ju previously performed with the MSO at Sidney Myer Music Bowl in 2021, as part of Performance of a Lifetime, a collaborative video project the MSO developed in collaboration with performing arts and entertainment organisations across Victoria, intended to encourage the Victorian public to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Collaborating live with the MSO might be a step outside the comfort zone of many great artists but Mo’Ju embraces such opportunities. With Oro, Plata, Mata ready for imminent release, they are as confident as ever to embrace new challenges.
“Growth comes from being challenged like that,” Mo’Ju says. “As an artist, I want to continue to evolve and get better and better.
“That’s the confidence I am talking about. The confidence in trusting my own creative instincts and the confidence to follow my intuition in my artistic practice.
“If there’s no risk involved in what you are doing creatively, then you don’t learn anything. It’s not like I’m a surgeon. No one is going to die if I fuck it up.
“It’s part of the creative process. If you try something and it doesn’t work, then you try something else.”
Oro, Plata, Mata is available on Friday March 17. Mo’Ju performs with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in a special one-night-only event at Hamer Hall on Friday 17 March 2023.
This article was made in partnership with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
