Independent venues and a weekly residency are anchoring Johannesburg’s live music scene, offering artists consistent performance opportunities and audiences free, community-driven experiences.
A Residency Built on Artist Solidarity
At Jozi Gold, the brewery and performance space at 81 De Korte Street, the event Your Weekly Touch Up has become a fixture. The address itself carries a layered history: it was once the Puma Social Club, then the jazz-focused The Orbit, and later the J&B Hive and Leano before reopening as Jozi Gold.
Every Wednesday, Your Weekly Touch Up draws crowds for live music without a cover charge. The event, which recently surpassed 150 editions, was founded by musician Lwandile Nkanyuza, who performs as ByLwansta. He started it as a residency when bookings were scarce, and it has since grown into a self-sustaining gathering run by a team that includes the group Amongst The People I Know and DJ/producer Al Da 3rd.
Nkanyuza, who has since moved to another city and handed day-to-day operations to the team, recalled the early approach. “We were just using relationships and being resourceful, keeping costs as low as possible. We haven’t paid booking fees as such, but we were sending transport money, up until I went broke. We weren’t able to sustain that part of it,” he said.
He explained that the event’s identity as an artist-led initiative, rather than a promoter-driven venture, secured early buy-in from performers. “The first person to buy in was an artist. So it wasn’t a promoter looking to host an event and make money. It was another artist looking for the same thing a lot of artists are looking for. We found each other in that.”
The night has become a stop for touring acts from across the continent. Kenya’s Njoki Karu performed during a South African tour last year, and artists from Eswatini, including Sarnilo and iYA, have made a point of visiting when in the country.
“At its core, it’s creating value. We’re creating something people are going to gravitate towards, but it needs us to want to do that, and to commit to showing up every week,” Nkanyuza said. He added that the weekly rhythm gave him a sense of professional discipline: “I felt like a professional musician, a career musician, in that I clock in every Wednesday.”
A Steady Beat in Newtown
In Newtown, Niki’s Oasis has been a constant presence at the corner of Lilian Ngoyi and Miriam Makeba streets since 1995. Owned by Simnikiwe Sondlo, the venue sits near the Market Theatre Laboratory, the Market Photo Workshop and Museum Africa, and continues to programme both established and emerging artists.
Niki’s Oasis is among the venues supported by Concerts SA, a programme that guarantees musician fees regardless of ticket sales or bar revenue. For over a decade, Concerts SA has worked to strengthen the live music ecosystem across Southern Africa, also offering mobility grants for national and regional tours.
In June, Concerts SA and its administrator, IKS Cultural Consulting, received the 2026 Music Cities Award for Best Placemaking Initiative at the Music Cities Convention in Kingston upon Hull. The award recognises more than ten years of structural work building sustainable live music circuits and supporting artistic mobility in South Africa and the wider region.
Afrikan Freedom Station
West of the city centre, the Afrikan Freedom Station began in a small shop facing an open parking lot. Founded by Steve Kwena Mokwena in 2012, the space functioned as a gallery, a cinema and a bandstand.
