Jabulile Majola crafts an intimate soundscape of remembered spaces on debut EP Isitifiketi – Texx and the City

We featured the incredible Jabulile Majola early last year as one of our first ever #SpotlightOn artists. Back then, he spoke of the ancient spirit that was inherent in his music, the sacred energy that permeated his words, like an old person telling a folktale.

“I hope that when people listen to me they feel like it’s their grandfather or their grandmother speaking to them,” he told us.

His falsettos ache with sympathy, offering an acoustic vulnerability that spans the realms of memory, faith, love and loss, and he draws on these themes for his debut EP, Isitifiketi.

The Zulu word “isitifiketi” translates to “certificate” in English—something witnessed and recognised. And for Majola, this project is exactly that. An archival record of where he’s been, who he’s become, and the stories that have shaped him.

“Growing up in a Children’s Home in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, storytelling was everything for me,” Majola says. “From folk tales to stories about the world beyond. Life in the countryside was slow, and our imaginations made distant places feel close. Isitifiketi is a window into that world—a reflection on my faith, my memory, and my journey of becoming.”

Through sparse arrangements and a gentle lyrical nature, Majola crafts an intimate soundscape of remembered spaces. Fields, kitchens, gardens—places where love and its absence seem to coexist.

Familiar favourite “Woza Mntana”—now remastered by Mike Zietsman and mixed by Ross Dorkin of Beatenberg—sets the tone for this delicate seven-track offering.

“Isineke” featuring Thando Zide and “uBhubesi” follow, showcasing Majola’s incredible artistry – as a lyricist, an instrumentalist, and as a composer.

But it’s closing track “Uyinkosi Yamakhosi” that really gets you. It’s listens as a lullaby, with a melody that is at once strangely familiar. The words “hallelujah” have never been sung with such specific tone, such tender intonation, yet, somehow, it’s like we’ve heard them a million times before.

Even if you aren’t religious, even if you’ve never step foot inside a church before, Majola’s final hymn is a universal incantation that evokes an invisible thread, a kind of understanding or invisible feeling, that connects us all as human beings. And this is his greatest achievement on Isitifiketi.

Isitifiketi is out now via independent record label Quiet Life Co, distributed globally via PLATOON.