Lefa Mosea

BIO

Lefa Mosea is a saxophonist born in the Vaal Triangle(Sebokeng),South of Johannesburg but later moved to stay in Pretoria in his very early teen years. In Pretoria that's where his musical talent was awakened and started taking music theory and guitar lessons in 2003. Under the guidance of his private music teacher Lefa played the guitar throughout his high school life till his matric year in 2005. He then joined the Vusi Mahlasela Music Development Foundation(VMMDF) at the State Theatre in Pretoria. At VMMDF he was introduced to the saxophone and instrument he was always fond of but because of lack of necessary finances he couldn't get his hands on but through the foundation he was offered the chance of learning it and he has never looked back ever since. Lefa was part of the foundation from 2005 till 2007 taking lessons on both guitar and saxophone. In 2008 Lefa Mosea enrolled at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University(NMMU)in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.Lefa studied towards his jazz degree Bmus(ed) and through his stay in PE he met up with young musicians from PE and formed a band called TAKE NOTE(please see google,Take Note jazz band). In 2011 the band got it's first break and were signed under NATIVE RHYTHMS by Sipho Sithole. "Rear Window" the album was the released and Lefa played a very crucial role in that project in terms of compositions and arrangements. Through Native Rhythms,Lefa and TakeNote managed to play on big national and international Standard Bank Joy of Jazz where the band was sharing a stage with the likes of Wynto Marsalis,Tutu Puana,Hugh Masekela,Sibongile Khumalo,McCoy Tyner just to name a few. The band was opening the Dinaledi stage at Joy of Jazz. More festivals followed Ugu Jazz Festival in Port Shepstone,Buyelekhaya in EL,Ebubeleni in PE etc. Due to business matters TakeNote asked to be released from their contract at Native in 2013 and went on to record a second album with an independent investor. That's when "...and the journey begins" was released in 2013. Again on this project,Lefa co-composed,co-arranged most of the songs with his fellow members. As the only Sesotho speaking member of the band Lefa brought a different sound in the band's music as all the other members were isixhosa speaking. Lefa's musical background and influence can be strongly heard on songs like Ramasedi,Sebogo,uThando lwam,Fuse blues just to name a few. These are all on both of the band's two albums. All of the songs Lefa composed/co-compsed are currently enjoying high rotation on Kaya Fm,Metro Fm,Umhlobo Wenene Fm and Radio 2000. After playing with TakeNote for so many years on different stages and with different artists such as Mam' Sbongile Khumalo,Mxo,Asanda Bam,Pu2ma Tiso,Nomfusi just to name but a few. Lefa decided to embark on a solo career in January 2015 where leads his own band "Lefa Mosea&The Double Standards Quintet". He plays mostly his compositions from his TakeNote days and fresh material that he keeps writing week in and week out. The 28th of February 2015 could be marked as a very special day for this energetic saxophonist career as it is the day he first presented his new work as a solo artist,his show entitled MY LIFE,MY JOURNEY,MY MISTAKES at Port Elizabeth's Atheneaum . After that, Lefa went on to headline the jazz category at the prestigious One Blood Festival on the 21st of March at Grand hotel Port Elizabeth where Reason,the South African hip hop star and IQulah from Jamaica were the headline acts. Apart from having his own set with his band,Lefa was also given a task of putting to gather a horn section made up of himself, a trombone and a trumpet player to back up most of the acts playing at the festival including IQulah. Lefa showed his versatility to switch from jazz to any genre by doing this with a well respected Reggea band The Azania band and arranging horns for Reggea music.The Azania band is based in Cape Town and has been taking the Reggea community by storm around the world backing prominent Reggea artists and performing on their own on many universal stages.The festival served as Lefa's first official festival booking as a solo artist. Lefa went on to play at the National Arts Festival 2015 Fringe programme with two times SAMA nominee Nomhle Nongongo as her saxophonist before playing with his own band at the same festival where he had sold out shows for three consecutive days. In August 2015 Lefa was also featured at the 1st annual Nelson Mandela Bay Cultural Festival where he shared a stage with the likes of Ringo, Zonke Dikana, Busiswa,Professor just to name a few. Again later in December 2015 Lefa was booked for the 4th annual Ebubeleni music festival in Port Elzabeth. He shared a stage with the American steel pans sensation Andy Narrel,Thandiswa Mazwai,Zahara,Moneoa,Ricky Rick,L-tido,Dr Victor,Donald and Nathi Mankayi.In July 2016 Lefa was invited to come perform at the first annual Mandela Bay Music Festival where he shared a stage with Nduduzi Makhathini, Vusi Nova,Nathi,Roots2000, Feya Faku,Thebe,Professor just to name a few. Please find more information about Lefa Mosea by following the links below. In June 2016 Lefa registered his company Dipuo PR and Entertainment where he is the head producer and CEO. The company provides services such as production(on and off stage),PR, artist management,producing,songwritting and arrangements. August 2016 was invited to Botswana where he had a two city tour. He first started in the capital city Gaborone on the 26th then went on to Goomoremi where he played at the 5th annual Marat'yane Afrofest on the 27th where he was well received and got more invites for the future. Again in October 2016 Lefa was supporting Msaki and the Golden Circle, the Congolese superstar Tresor and Mobi Dixon at tge POSEGA all white event in East London. In November 2016 Lefa had the opportunity of recording his debut album(please see link below for the behind the scenes of the making of the album footage on YouTube)which is set to be released in the first quarter of 2017. In April Lefa Mosea released his debut single #Mabele (see link to Mabele below on both youtube and ITunes) taken from his debut album. Straight after that Lefa enjoyed some huge national media coverage because of his hit single that is making waves on both national and community radio stations. Lefa was accepted at the National Arts Festival 2017
Edition where he showcased his album as a whole and officially launched his hit single Mabele over a period of 5 days with 4 shows . In December 2018 Lefa toured Lesotho with his full band sponsored by Concerts a performing in Maseru and Roma respectively.