Roy explains that in Puerto Rico Mejunje is a potent elixir, something that grandmothers make make you to help you feel better. It’s generally containing a variety of ingredients: typically guarapo (sugar cane juice), ginger, lemon and honey, as well as less appealing additives such as garlic and cayenne pepper. Essentially, it's a brew, a hodgepodge of things to heal you and make you feel better but that don’t necessarily entice your palate. Throughout the interview Roy explains how he took this concept and brought it into his new recording, Menjunje, to create a spirit of improvisation and healing. “It’s a mixture of compositions and arrangements, written throughout the past five years, that feature the folkloric rhythms autochthonous to my home, Puerto Rico: Bomba and Plena.”
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