The Characters

The MOJA saga follows seven generations of a family. If they had one common trait it would be their ability to recognize the gift of each day. We start with Moja and end with a story, not yet told, of little two-year-old Sabbath.

Each of these seven characters are introduced in the story at their most vulnerable moment in life. We observe the experiences that shape them, and discover how they use their music and individual strengths to survive.

MOJA

Moja will do anything to protect her family and make a better life for them. She is incredibly wise, kind, positive-minded, and focused on finding safety and happiness for herself and her son, Billi.

Moja Musiki

“First Music” in Swahili

As her name implies, Moja is a naturally talented musician and singer. She can play the drums, the wooden flute, and the tambourine with perfect rhythm and a cadence so unique she impresses anyone who listens. 

Moja’s family is from the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania, East Africa. She’s much taller than most East African women, standing 6’1”. She has a classically “pretty” face with a piercing stare and is elegant, stately, and athletic.

Moja displays her incredible resilience throughout the entirety of the saga. During Volume One, when she is captured from her village and forced into slavery, she maintains hope for an escape and even devises innovative plans to overthrow her captors. 

A natural mother, Moja will do anything to protect her family and make a better life for them. She is incredibly wise, kind, positive-minded, and focused on finding safety and happiness for herself and her son, Billi. 

Eventually, Moja realizes music will be what saves her –– and her family –– from their captors. It must be. For the Muziki family, music is their haven, their salvation, and the key to their freedom.

BilLi

Since before Billi could even walk or talk, Moja taught him to make music. He grew up surrounded by some of the best musicians in Louisiana at the time, and they all loved to encourage little Bili to play and sing to his heart’s content. They saw him as a little legend, and being the ham he was, he soaked up every bit of it.

Billi Ellis

“Mbili” • Number 2 in Swahili

Billi is the male version of Moja. Like his mother, he’s very good-looking and has an athletic physique. He’s a 6-foot-2 rugged, hunky man who’s also calm, centered, and a logical thinker – nothing shakes him up. His mother is his rock, and as soon as he’s old enough to protect her, she becomes his top priority. 

Since before Billi could even walk or talk, Moja taught him to make music. He grew up surrounded by some of the best musicians in Louisiana at the time, and they all loved to encourage little Billi to play and sing to his heart’s content. They saw him as a little legend, and being the ham he was, he soaked up every bit of it. His instrument of choice was the trumpet, but he could play pretty much anything by the time he was 10 years old.

Like Moja, Billi had only one love of his life: Blessing Benjamin, who died giving birth to his daughter, Tattie. He and Moja both experienced tragic heartbreaks that most people never face. Music was instrumental in their healing process. Together, the three of them –– Moja, Billi, and Tattie –– were determined to change the trajectory of their family’s story.

TATTIE

Tattie can never get enough attention, whether it’s as a musician, a tap dancer, or a charming, bawdy woman. She’s reckless, rebellious, and has a bit of a short temper. She’s iconoclastic, profane, and all-around outrageous. Tattie is vibrant and fun, viewing life as a party and a crazy adventure. She loved being on the road more than anything.

Tattie Ellis

“Tatu” • Number 3 in Swahili

You don’t want to mess with Tattie Ellis. She’s sassy, she’s promiscuous, and she’s enormously energetic. At 5’6” and 145 pounds, she’s lean but voluptuous. Cute and sexy, but not traditionally “pretty” like her grandmother Moja, Tattie has a pug nose and wears her hair in a scarf. 

Tattie has a huge, captivating smile and a contagious spirit that mesmerizes everyone she meets. Her father Billi and grandmother Moja introduced her to music right away –– it’s no surprise she was the first Ellis to record a song and get a band together. 

Tattie can never get enough attention, whether it’s as a musician, a tap dancer, or a charming, bawdy woman. She’s reckless, rebellious, and has a bit of a short temper. She’s iconoclastic, profane, and all-around outrageous. Tattie is vibrant and fun, viewing life as a party and a crazy adventure. She loved being on the road more than anything.

When she falls in love with an Italian tap dancer and becomes pregnant with Innes, Tattie never misses a show and even makes her big belly part of the act. After he’s born, there’s no question that little Innes would be joining the band in the speedwagon bus, learning to make music before walking and talking just like his mother, grandfather, and great-grandmother had done.

Innes

Innes grew up on the road surrounded by several very talented musicians, similar to his grandfather Billi’s upbringing. Despite all the bad things that happen to him, he maintains a strong desire to see his family blossom. It is this burning desire that pushes him to find his grandson, Sitano, who he hasn’t seen in decades.

 

Innes Ellis

“Nne” • Number 4 in Swahili

Innes Ellis had the good fortune of having Tattie as a mother, his childhood was about as fun as it could be. 

He grew up on the bus surrounded by several very talented musicians, similar to his grandfather Billi’s upbringing. His father is an Italian tap dancer, and Innes loves to dance, too. Moja has already passed away when Innes is born, so he learns all about music from Bili and Tattie. 

Much of Innes’s adult life is a hard-luck story. But despite all the bad things that happen to him, he maintains a strong desire to see his family blossom. It is this burning desire that pushes him to find his grandson, Sitano, who he hasn’t seen in decades. 

Innes hopes and prays that Sitano or his children can be The Ellis Family’s silver lining. All these years, their devotion to music has only allowed them to survive. They were never able to thrive. If Innes can find Sitano and tell him their family’s story, he may finally get that blossom.

TANYA

Tanya is the weakest Ellis, but she is also the most talented. Her voice is more beautiful than anyone’s, and she can play the piano like a virtuoso. She has a natural gift for music, but her character is wavering.

Tanya Ellis

“Tano” • Number 5 in Swahili

Tanya is the weakest Ellis, but she is also the most talented. Her voice is more beautiful than anyone’s, and she can play the piano like a virtuoso. She has a natural gift for music, but her character is wavering. 

Tanya gives in to every temptation: booze, drugs, and men. She’s addicted to opium, gin, and her boyfriend El Gatito, a Cuban trumpeter. At 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds, she’s very frail, and she has bruises on her arms from the various drugs she abuses. 

Tanya has a very pretty face, but she uses her style to hide the effects of the drugs on her body and skin. She always has her hair and makeup done, and every dress she buys looks good on her. She’s a smoker and doesn’t smile very much, but her angelic voice makes up for it.

Tanya loved her son Sitano more than anything, but she was an addict first, a mother second. She overdoses when he’s only 10 years old.

Sitano

Sitano grew up on the streets, fending for himself and –– as he says in his hit song –– becoming his own Creator. Rather than falling into the same patterns as his mother, Sitano raises himself and puts in the work to become a successful artist.

Sitano Ellis

“Sita” • Number 6 in Swahili

Sitano Ellis is handsome, cocky, charismatic, and strong-driven. Opposite of his mother Tanya, Sitano is the strongest member of the Ellis family. He saw the weakness in his mother and refused to repeat it. 

At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, Sitano is a strong guy with an athletic build. His father was Cuban, and he kept his mother addicted to substances and his emotional abuse. Sitano is only 10 years old when Tanya overdoses, and he and his father mutually want nothing to do with one another. 

So, Sitano grows up on the streets, fending for himself and –– as he says in his hit song –– becoming his own Creator. Rather than falling into the same patterns as his mother, Sitano raises himself and puts in the work to become a successful artist. When we meet him, it’s at one of his sold-out concerts in modern-day Los Angeles.

Sitano feels abandoned by and resentful of his family. He has no heritage, lineage, ancestry, or culture of any kind –– so he thinks. He doesn’t remember how his mother and grandfather taught him so much as a kid, from African drumming to music theory. He believes he has invented himself. He’s a self-made, successful rapper, and no one got him to where he is now but himself. His grandfather, Innes, has taken on the challenge of telling him why that may not be entirely true.

The Music

Music is the heart and soul of the MOJA project. Just as it follows the stories of each of the characters, the saga also follows the story of music

The Author

Meet Carl Gustafson, the writer behind the Moja Saga and find out what led him to create this musical story.

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