Emerging singer's music is a soulful ride through her personal journeys

JazzZ is one artist whose music you need to get in tune with for her vocal dexterity, storytelling prowess and the  good feel her sound offers.

Hanjara Atta who goes by the stage name JazzZ Atta (coined from the music genre ‘Jazz’) is a budding Indie Jazz artist who fuses every other sounds with it.

Hailing from Kogi state but brought up in Lagos, Atta is another artist breaking the norm when it comes to the quality of sounds permeating the air waves.

On her discovery path to music in  2014, JazzZ recalled meeting with a group of music inclined folks who helped influence and fuel her desire to take on music as a career.

“Music has always been my thing but I wasn’t really brave enough to pursue until I met a bunch of musicians just vibing” she recounted.

Though she tells Pulse how she faced criticism from some producers who found her sound not “commercial” and advised her to dumb it down, but she believed in what she was offering.

“This isn’t commercial, people won’t get what you’re coming from, you have to dumb down your lyrics, you have to change your style of singing.”

“It just made me more stubborn, what’s the point in doing what everybody else is doing I just tried to perfect my style work harder, perfect my voice.”

Atta is magical  and zoned out in a world of her own when armed with her one-of-a-kind singing voice and her acoustic guitar.

She has performed at some shows in Lagos venues  such as at Bogobiri and the 90s baby Sound Off event where she attests to receiving fairly good reception.

Showing her seriousness, Atta went ahead to a Jazz and contemporary music school in Lagos to hone her vocals  and knowledge of the music style Jazz she wanted to be a major force in.

JazzZ cites Fela, Nneka, Sam Cooke and Erykah Badu, as some icons  who helped shape her sound on listening to their music. She likes to term her own type of music as “Urban Music”.

Atta also speaks of a time she had a  bit of depression when she auditioned for a particular reality show and was not selected to advance onto the next stage, however later on at school she recalls a random guy walking past her who recognised her from the auditions and  encouraging her not to feel down but keep at the music.

On what music makes her feel, she simply says “music is therapy, it’s everything to me.”

JazzZ just wants to keep learning and push herself to be the best she can be as a musician.

Atta writes from personal and third party experiences, as far as her songwriting process  is concerned.

On the movement of alternative music of the new crop of artists, JazzZ says she is happy with what’s going on.

“I’m just really happy that a lot of people are trying to change that perception that Nigerians do not know what  good music is all about.”

“We are doing better and I feel like the world is not ready for us.”

On how to bridge that perceived gap to getting mainstream, JazzZ believes it’s just about working, exploring and working to perfection until they get there.

JazzZ has a debut  EP ready which is  titled “Practice” (because according to her she’s still trying to find her sound),  Pulse got to listen and preview the project first hand and we were quite impressed.

She tells Pulse she was going through a personal crisis when writing and recording the tracks numbering seven on the EP.

“I was trying to pour out all I was going through on the EP,” she says.

Jazzz wants people to see her as an intellectual who just wants to express herself through music even though she sees herself as socially awkward. Just like every music creative out there she would love to be accorded that respect.

Going forward, the Soul singer feels she can do more even more with her vocal range  which she has been able to impressively grow wide over the years.

JazzZ looks forward to working with producers and artists such as Leriq, Ekelly and  Ikon and would like to work with artists like Sute and Odunsi the engine.

She also mentions some of our favourite songs including  Odunsi the engine’s ‘Desire’, Lady Donli’s ‘Ice cream’  DJ Tunez’s and Sarz’s ‘Get up’ feat. Flash, Tomi Thomas’ ‘Ready or not’, Santi’s  ‘Gangster’s fear’.

JazzZ, currently an indie artist, is one whose music you need to get in tune for all the right reasons - for her vocal dexterity, storytelling prowess, therapeutic benefit and the therapeutic feeling her sound offers.

Also listen to 'Body and soul', and see if you won't get hooked: