But the novelty does not end here. She is the only recorded female artist, I am aware of, who plays the trumpet. With her first album La Mogale released last year, she inspired sighs of incredulity from those who could not bring themselves to accept a woman jazz trumpeter.
Listening to her tell her story is as much a journey as listening to the album. “Every song”, she says, “in this CD represents a particular moment, a distinct mood in my life and all that I have gone through to be where I am. The album is full of messages of hope, of inspiration.” And it’s not easy to dispute this, particularly after listening to Thaba Nchu, the most sentimental track on the album.
“The song is an expression of appreciation, of gratitude, of acknowledgement to the people of Thaba Nchu. I went for an interview and worked there as a music lecturer. I did not have a place to stay and knew no one, but someone gave me accommodation and that signalled the greatest friendship, companionship and hospitality I was to experience in my life. Thaba Nchu resonates with botho. So this is to say Ke a leboga [thank you] to the people of Thaba Nchu for treating me like a queen.”
She is a remarkably groomed artist and does not stop talking about her mentors: Feya Faku, Hugh Masekela and, lastly, Magalane Phoshoko, who has been a revelation in her life: ” He guides me, he sees the cracking points in a music piece. He’s a great composer and producer.” She mentions the inspiration of Miles Davies and Khadja Nin in the same breadth.
Mailula is a musician, music teacher, trumpeter and flugelhorn player. She was born in Meadowlands, Soweto. She started taking piano lessons at the age of nine, when her father took her to Dorkay House. She completed a Higher Diploma in Education, specialising in practical music at Wits University. This is also where she started paying attention to the trumpet and joined the Wits Orchestra. After graduating in 1992 she joined the University of Natal’s jazz department, where she was the only female trumpeter in the Natal University Jazz Ensemble.
While studying, she established a band that performed on campus and in well-known jazz venues around Durban. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree with honours in 1996. She then went to work at Thaba Nchu College as a music lecturer. And, as her penchant dictates, wherever she goes she establishes a band, this time it was called Thari, and they performed extensively in most of the major festivals.
In 1999 she was a finalist in the Old Mutual Jazz competition, as a soloist representing the Free State. In the same year her 12-track album was recorded and released the following year by her company Phela Re Phele Productions. Phela re phele means “live and let live” and it is precisely this quality, and the humanity and humility it encapsulates, that Mailula and her partner, Magalane, would like to see themselves bringing into the music industry.
The title track, La Mogale, in full reads Faseng la mogale, which means the world of a hero. And if it is anything to go by, then Mailula has commenced her conquest.