Tefo Mahola - First Offering (2020)

This live-streamed performance will mark the release of Tefo's debut album, First Offering, which was recorded, mixed and mastered at Concept Records, and represents his first 'full-length' compositional accomplishment. The album was primarily recorded over a weekend in March 2020, with the finishing touches being added after the easing of the National Lockdown, and it features a wide range of influences, intervals and performers. Although the 'Talking Drum' has toured the world as both a solo and an ensemble performer, and despite the fact that his distinctive style has appeared on various projects with many accomplished performers, this genre-bending album truly marks his 'first offering' to the world of recorded music and, like the livestream itself, promises to deliver sonic satisfaction at multiple levels of listening.

First Offering is also the first album entirely engineered and produced through Concept Records, a young Cape Town-based recording studio with a focus on artistic comfort and analogue recording techniques. Following its involvement in projects at various levels during 2019 (with Coriander Colin, Trio Style, and The Cinematic Rejects), Concept Records has expanded its offerings in 2020 to provide sound-makers with access to equipment and platforms that allow new ways of sharing and creating together. This has begun with another debut release from Thabo Krouwkam, and will soon be followed by releases from Coriander Colin and Thembilihle Dunjana, as well as the launch of a new platform for local performances on YouTube called Percept Records.

Personnel:

Drums and Vocals - Tefo Mahola
Bass - Sean Sanby
Keyboards - Thembelihle Dunjana
Guitar - Dylan Fine
Trombone - Athi Ngcaba
Trumpet - Muneeb Hermans