CONCERTS SA – MOVING TO THE BEAT
South Africa’s leading live music support project, Concerts SA, is proud to announce that it has selected 62 live music tours to take place in southern Africa.
Over 600 expressions of interest in the programme were received from established practitioners to emerging music professionals from all parts of South Africa, and across a wide range of genres.
‘We are so excited’, said Concerts SA project leader Andre Le Roux. ‘This is the first time Concerts SA has been able to get artists up and moving with a physical mobility fund since Covid. We will be seeing them travelling all over South Africa as well as to six countries in the SADC region. In addition, some may also be able to participate in the festivals of our FEC partners.’
These tours have been made possible with support from the South African National Treasury’s Jobs Fund and the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) as part of the Festival Enterprise Catalyst (FEC). The FEC includes the National Arts Festival, Nasionale Afrikaanse Theater-initiatief (NATi), Concerts SA (administered by IKS Cultural Consulting), SAMRO, Woordfees, Aardklop, Suidooster Fees, KKNK and the Tribuo Fund.
The tours will commence in February and run until the end of April 2025. Amongst the artists are some true headliners, including uKhoiKhoi who will be performing at the Sauti za Busara Festival in Zanzibar, Standard Bank Young Artist winner Benjamin Jephta in Joburg, Durban and Cape Town, and Louis Mhlanga who will be taking his band to Zambia.
A list of the subsidy recipients can be found here:
For over a decade, Concerts SA has supported South Africa’s live music sector. Between 2013 and 2023 the project directly supported 3862 concerts (more than one a day for 10 years), reaching over a million audience members in small venues, and creating work for over 27 000 music profession
