"Long before he started packing out theatres and earning millions of listeners with his poetic folk-pop, Mon Rovia began life in Liberia at a time when many of his country's youngest were armed with assault rifles and forced to fight as child soldiers in a brutal civil war. After his mother died, his grandmother needed help raising his sister, brother and him, and placed him with a white missionary family from Florida. He was the only member of his family to escape the war."
"Today, his stage name he was born Janjay Lowe is a stylised version of the Liberian capital Monrovia; his songwriting addresses his fractured identity, and the spectre of colonialism that surrounded him in Liberia and the US, applying emotional intimacy to global realities. His approach, he theorises, starts with people trusting that you're not afraid to be vulnerable in your own way. Then you start talking about the bigger picture."
"Of all the coffee shops in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the one Lowe chooses for our interview is in a downtown business district that appears to have cleared out for the holidays. Only a handful of patrons trickle in while we talk over mint tea on a December afternoon, and that suits him. I don't really like to be noticed, he says, casually attired in a dark, plaid flannel shirt."
Mon Rovia was born in Liberia during a civil war that conscripted many children as soldiers. After his mother died, his grandmother placed him with a white missionary family from Florida; he became the only family member to escape the conflict, a survivor's guilt that haunted him. His stage name, derived from Monrovia, reflects ties to his homeland. His songwriting examines fractured identity and colonial legacies across Liberia and the US, using personal vulnerability as an entry point to broader issues. He prefers modest public presence, performs calmly to sold-out audiences, and released the debut album Bloodline.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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