Jay Melody: I found fame, fortune in Nakupenda hit song after failing in 'mjengo' jobs

A voice carrying an element of Taarab, melodies that resemble sounds of Islamic recitations blended with RnB, all in a single track, ‘Nakupenda’.

This voice belongs to artiste Jay Melody, whose offstage name is Sharif Juma. He tops the region’s TikTok trending songs list with one of his latest projects titled ‘Nakupenda’.

His music journey began at an early age however Jay Melody was so focussed on becoming a successful businessman because he believed that it took connections for a musician to make it in Tanzania’s music industry.

After he completed his Form Four studies at Bunju Secondary School, Jay Melody started working different jobs in the name of hustling to save enough money that would smoothen his journey into becoming a businessperson.

He worked in construction sites as a person assisting in passing building materials to other constructors and he also worked as the person scrubbing doors before, they were varnished.

“My construction job was not paying me enough, so I decided to turn back to my then neglected talent. The first move I did was to approach Tanzania House of Talent (THT) to give myself a chance to work on something I truly love, however, I was turned down about three times,” he recalls.

THT were at the time running other projects and this limited them to conduct any auditions.

Since he was staying with his parents during that time, they were repeatedly reminding him of either going back to school or getting a job.

“One day I was tired of my parents’ rants, so I decided to go for a walk. While I was strolling with no particular destination in mind, I passed by THT and saw a queue outside the building. When I found out that it was for an audition, I joined the line,” Jay Melody recalls.

Out of 50 people who auditioned, only five were chosen and Jay Melody was one of them.

The first day, alongside other winners, Jay Melody began to go through his first ever-singing lessons. On his second day, he was called to the studio to record a verse, which gave him hope that his dream of becoming a musician was becoming a reality.

“This deal fell on me because of the type of music that I sing and write which is purely Kiswahili, also known as baibuda in the streets. I was told by the late Ruge Mutahaba to record a song called ‘Mahaba ya Dhati’ that was sung by Bi Mwanahela. The plan in place was to remake all of the songs by the Taarab legend in the form of an album,” Jay Melody explains.

His first unrecorded song was called Tabasamu. However, the song that made his name grow wings in the music industry was Kivuruge that was sung by Nandy.

“Kivuruge made people think I was just a songwriter because, aside from THT, no one had heard my voice on a song at the time. I then made Goroka that opened doors for me. It was loved by a lot of people from different parts of Africa,” he details.

After Ruge Mutahaba passed away, Jay Melody put a halt in his music from 2019 to 2020 because he was the one supporting his music. Jay Melody began to struggle with financial bills that kept piling up. At the time, he was also struggling to find shows across the country to the extent he gave up, quit music and got back to construction works.

When he got back to his former job, he was reminded by his fans several times, of who he could have been if he hadn’t given up on his music.

“Some of them questioned the reasons I had not become successful already. Restaurants and bars that I passed by at different times that were consistently playing my music. This felt like a push that I truly needed. It was through this encouragement that I got back on my feet and in the studio,” he narrates.

Late 2020, he released a song called ‘Chini’ that did not perform well, however, this did not dishearten him, if anything it pushed him towards self-encouragement that he did not know before that time. A few months into 2021, Jay Melody released ‘Huba Huru’ that performed better than ‘Chini’.

‘Huba Huru’ opened the door to the release of his other projects including ‘Najieka’, ‘Sambaloketo’ and ‘Sugar’. All these songs have seen him perform in different parts of Tanzania and Kenya and Nakupenda.

“I love singing about love and through my work. I have noticed that most love songs that hit off in the music scene are the ones portraying affection in a negative way. I aim to be the opposite and my goal is to be identified by every music person that I make songs that dictates love on its positive side,” he explains.

Jay Melody says that most aspiring musicians often face challenges such as rejection from music producers, financial incapacitation even when their talents speak volume.

“The road towards a successful music career is full of thorns. It is how you react to such barriers that you can turn them into your opportunities” he details.

Reliving some of the things he went through in his early days, Jay Melody unravels about how many important players in the music industry did not believe in him after the late Ruge passed away. He was repeatedly told that he was nothing without him.

“I decided to put all of these behind me and move on because my tomorrow is even greater than such challenges,” he says.

At the moment, Jay Melody is currently working on an album as well as singles at the same time that will be released before the album announcement is made.

“I’m now working on a number of tracks that I want to release before I officially release the album because I aim at spicing people’s playlists before the album,” he says.

He has however hinted that the album is likely to be launched in Kenya because it is where most of his fans are based.

“For the Tanzanian music industry to harness success, it has to respect rights to the particular music, this includes singers, producers, directors and every other person involved in the making of the particular music. Such rights will limit people from using the songs however they want without the permission of people who made the music,” Jay Melody advises.

He also pointed out that Tanzania unlike other countries does not have an arena dedicated to artists for their performance.

“Aside from having a music talent, it is a career built out of inspiration. I would advise young aspiring musicians to use that inspiration to get from where they are to where they want to be.

“It is also okay for your music to not be understood by other people because as long as you have passion for it, nothing stands in your way,” he points out.