Mahjamba

About

Genre: 1930s Delta Blues
Active: Mid-1930s
Location: Mississippi

Bio:
Mahjamba remains one of the most enigmatic figures in pre-war blues history. What little we know comes from a single recording session, likely conducted in a makeshift studio somewhere in the Mississippi Delta around 1935.

Where other blues women of the era used innuendo and metaphor, Mahjamba abandoned all pretense entirely. Her recordings were so explicit that they were immediately suppressed, deemed too dangerous for distribution even in the underground “party record” circuit that thrived during the Depression era.

The name “Mahjamba” itself is likely a stage name, and her true identity has been lost to time. Some blues historians believe she may have been a juke joint performer who traveled the Delta circuit, while others suggest the recordings were made during a single, whiskey-fueled session that got wildly out of hand.

What cannot be disputed is the raw power of her voice and the unflinching honesty of her lyrics. Mahjamba sang about desire, power, and survival with a directness that still shocks modern listeners. These recordings represent American music at its most honest—before sanitization, before corporate influence, before anyone told blues women they needed to be polite.

The master recordings surfaced in 2024 in an estate sale in Memphis, still marked “DO NOT RELEASE” in faded pencil.

Notable Releases:
Grind My Coffee (1935)

Sound: Raw Delta blues with acoustic guitar, minimal production, lo-fi field recording quality, and vocals that demand attention.