The SAMRO Foundation is proud to announce the results of the August 2018 round of the Concerts SA Music Mobility Fund. Initiated in 2013, this fund offers opportunities for South African musicians to undertake live music tours across southern Africa. A total of eighteen applications were successful, with twelve tour projects to be supported in South Africa and six tour projects in the SADC region.
Since it was initiated in 2013, the Music Mobility Fund has received over 900 applications and supported more than 160 tours through 10 funding rounds. Artists who have benefitted have included Freshlyground, The Muffinz, Moonchild Sanelly, Samthing Soweto, DJ Lag, Bombshelter Beast, The Brother Moves On, Masandi, Tlokwe Sehume, Msaki, Thabang Thabane and Make-Overs.
Through the Mobility Fund, Concerts SA works as a full-on tour partner- acting as financial co-funder, technical advisor and media advocate. Supported tour leaders have stressed that having the support of the Mobility Fund has facilitated the development of their creative work while on tour. It has allowed their creative integrity and freedom to remain intact while reaching and gaining bigger (national and / or transnational) audiences, it has opened up doors for collaborations with artists and spaces, and it has created future booking opportunities.
More than 800 musicians have successfully toured across the nine South African provinces as well as 10 other countries in southern Africa (Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia and Madagascar), playing more than 900 shows to over 50 000 people, spanning genres from folk to hip-hop, from gqom to punk-rock, from jazz to indigenous music.
The projects selected for regional (SADC) touring in the January 2018 round are:
- Jazz saxophonist Lefa Mosea: tour to Lesotho supported by his band The Double Standards
- Afro-funk ensemble BCUC: double bill performance and workshops at the Sauti Za Busara festival (Stone Town, Zanzibar)
- Singer/songwriter Shotgun Tori: series of live musical performances in Namibia and Cape Town with local female collaborators
- Artistic collaboration between Malombo percussionist Azah and Swati musicians Bholoja, Velemseni, Nana Magagula and Tlale Makhene.
- Afro-pop/soul singer Berita SADC tour, with live and unplugged performances at intimate venues in Lusaka, Maputo, Maseru and Windhoek
- Afro-rock band Urban Village: first tour outside South Africa- headlining a show in Maputo and a workshop with WONA and Kongoloti Records, before bringing Mozambican band O Cantinho Das Cores back for shows in Durban and Johannesburg
This round’s recipients for national touring support are:
- Indigenous vocalist and umakhweyana player Lu Dlamini Ulimilam album launch/ mini-tour
- Afro-rock Linda Buthelezi and his God Sons & Daughters (GSAND): performances in KwaZulu-Natal, participating at Kwantu Village Folk & Griot Festival (Utrecht, Zululand)
- Singer-songwriter Mbijana Sibisi’s Zululand to Cape Tour, based on story-telling of self-composed, modern Zulu folk tales, joined by guitarist Milton Chissano and percussionist Njabulo Shababala
- Jazz pianist Mashiloane’s tour of his recently-launched third album, Closer to Home
- Marley BloO & Daddy Longstem touring nationally under their urban moniker The Us
- Debut album launch tour by female jazz saxophonist Linda Tshabalala
- Debut EP launch tour by singer and guitarist Luh’ra with trumpeter Keegan Steenkamp
- Folk jazz duo Ariel & Juana touring nationally their debut album Between Two Worlds
- The New Project: improvisation collaboration by Coila-Leah Enderstein (piano and electronics), Dylan Tabisher (vibraphone and percussion) and bassist Carlo Mombelli.
- Collaborative tour between pianist Afrika Mkhize and saxophonist and flautist Salim Washington, joined by drummer Siphiwe Shiburi and bassist Amaeshi Ikechi
- The Appreciation Tour, led by RnB singer Garde to promote his latest single, featuring Yanga Yaya and Lucille Slade
- The Really Revered Whole Story tour: sophomore album launch tour by saxophonist Abraham Mennen with Reza Khota on guitar, Ariel Zamonsky on double bass and Clement Benny on drums
The Music Mobility Fund is administered by Concerts SA, a joint South African/Norwegian initiative housed under the auspices of the Stakeholder Hub within the SAMRO Foundation. It receives financial, administrative and technical support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SAMRO Foundation.
