Apple Music today announced one of South Africa’s most exciting new voices in Afro-Folk, Jabulile Majola, as the latest artist to be featured in its Up Next artist development program in South Africa.
“It’s such an amazing honour to be included in the Up Next programme,” he tells Apple Music. “I’m proud of this platform for championing African storytelling—voices that are full of life and deserve to be heard by the world.”
Through his emotive storytelling, blending folk, acoustic and traditional sounds, he now shares Isitifiketi, a deeply personal debut EP rooted in faith, identity and community.
The Zulu word “isitifiketi” translates to “certificate” in English—something witnessed and recognised. 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 tells Apple Music. “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.
The EP was developed and released by Cape Town based independent record label Quiet Life Co, and distributed globally via PLATOON.
As the latest Up Next act to be spotlighted in South Africa, Jabulie Majola will be featured on Apple Music’s Up Next playlist https://apple.co/3eITdJd. The curated Up Next playlist features a dynamic class of new and emerging artists, thoughtfully hand-picked by Apple Music editors from around the world. The playlist is genre agnostic and represents a line-up of artists our global editors are passionate about and eager to expose to a larger audience.
The vast global Up Next roster of past talent includes Grammy-nominated and critically lauded talent like 6lack, Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., Greta Van Fleet, Khalid, Amy Shark, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Claudio, Sigrid, Mr Eazi, Stefflon Don, Bad Bunny, Juice WLRD, Bazzi, Jax Jones, NCT 127, Summer Walker, Tierra Whack, Dean Lewis, Pink Sweat$, Koffee, Megan Thee Stallion, Burna Boy, Clairo, Lunay, Jessie Reyez, Orville Peck, Victoria Monét, Ingrid Andress, Conan Gray, Don Toliver, Rema, BENEE, Holly Humberstone, Natanael Cano, Givēon, beabadoobee, Arlo Parks, Tate McRae, Foushee and Tems.
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