Most Cape Town DJs come up through club culture. Tshegofatso Kwele (DJ name Kwele) came up through a piano. Before the decks, before the residencies people build their names on, there were drum lessons and a guitar she taught herself, and years of reaching for whatever instrument was closest. That grounding is the thing that separates what she does now from the crowded field of emerging selectors.
We were at Youngblood on the last Friday of June, in a room thick with familiar faces, when espAfrika set out what the Cape…
The Cape Town eight-piece built a devoted live following long before they released a note. Their debut single, recorded at Concept Records, is less…
When Olivia Rodrigo announced Daisy Chain Fields last week, an all-women festival in California with the proceeds going to women’s and girls’ charities, it…
Writing about VERVE Magazine turning two is strange in the best possible way. On paper, they are technically a competitor. They cover the same…
Cape Town’s SIDEPIECE are a punk band with a sense of humour and something to say, and Faux Confidence is their first proper statement.…
There is a particular kind of advice that gets handed to emerging artists in Cape Town when a brand finally comes knocking. Soften the…
Cape Town doesn’t get a steady stream of international tours. It comes in waves. A few quiet months. Then suddenly: a cluster. A venue…
This piece is about a campaign, a document, and a growing movement that could meaningfully shift how live music works in Cape Town. It’s…
