Johannesburg - It is no secret that South Africans love the festive season. Citizens always anticipate this time of year to the point that it has aptly been renamed Dezemba.
We are even known across social media globally for providing a good time, even during the bad times. While the tragic Boksburg explosion and thunderstorms overshadowed 2022’s festive season, partygoers were in their element at various festivals and concerts.
It was a festive season without Covid restrictions, and the events came out in full force (no rain could dampen spirits). This past December saw house DJ Shimza return with his popular annual One Man Show in Pretoria, and Que DJ (one half of Gqom powerhouse Distruction Boyz) launched a full-on festival in Durban dedicated to their beloved Gqom genre and South Africans.
The popular summer sunset concerts at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in the Western Cape made their return with acts by Beatenberg, UK act Calum Scott, Mi Casa and Jeremy Loops. Even nightclubs like Konka in Soweto and Saint in Cape Town welcomed full capacity crowds with open wallets into 2023.
Daytime parties flourished, but they are special, for they prospered during the lockdown period due to the capacity limitations imposed by President Ramaphosa. These events worked with the curfew while allowing people to cultivate new communities to help them escape the isolated situation created by the lockdown.
These day-to-night parties helped to support performing artists and producers who were severely affected by the pandemic. With the restrictions lifted, connections were rebuilt, and SA’s social scene is steadily blossoming.
“We wanted to create an intimate space that allowed people to reconnect with each other and slowly get them back into socialising,” Tom Saison said.
“We wanted to expand on the network and communities built in these spaces that help the artists grow, and the audience find new artists to support. It also allows those growing artists to connect physically with their virtual fans.”
Saison Sundays is a nomadic daytime event hosted on selected Sundays. The event was co-founded in 2022 by businessman Arnold Basajjasubi alongside Saison, an entrepreneur and multi-disciplinary artist.
Basajjasubi and Saison’s event has become a favouriteamong music lovers who prefer an outdoor, intimate setting for live performances with aspects of social distancing. It was initially created to help Saison perform his music, but the two saw an opportunity to provide more.
“We realised that if no one was booking him, then we might as well do it ourselves. We had a conversation, and our reason for creating this event was not only to give him (Saison) an opportunity to showcase his talent on the stage but to give others a chance to express themselves freely,” Basajjasubi explained.
“One thing that Saison Sundays is about is that we aren’t trying to put restrictions on up-and-coming artists. It is just a place for artists to come and experiment, be themselves and build their community,” he said.
Saison explained that one of the major aspects of adding another daytime event like theirs, was to help South Africans who found themselves dealing with social anxiety from isolation and struggled to re-integrate themselves into large public social settings.
He said that Johannesburg residents had openly supported the event, as a result they survived during the two-year period where larger concerts were severely affected. In a time like the lockdown period, smaller physical events helped keep artists financially afloat and fulfil their creative dreams.
Their success, in turn, emboldened entrepreneurs and artists to create their own spaces. The Feel Good Series, run by Mamakashaka and Nandi Dlepu since 2017, has become a much-loved platform within the entertainment industry, partially credited by Dlepu to the brand’s original aims.
Before the live daytime event series, Dlepu and Mamakashaka were part of The Other Girl, a preceding event that gave Dlepu the confidence for a new daytime social event.
“It’s about building platforms, opportunities and celebrating emerging artists. Not our regular favourites, who we will always love, but specifically a platform that will see us putting the artist on,” explained Dlepu.
Not to be confused with the ‘Feel Good Live Sessions’ (streamed live on Youtube and hosted by rap artist JR), Dlepu and Mamakashaka’s event primarily hosted events around the city of Johannesburg until they found a home at Victoria Yards.
The creation of the Feel Good Series, along with other events such as Opposite People; Homie, Lover & Friends, Pantone Sundays etc. catered to a waiting list of fans wanting to hear up-and-coming artists perform apart from the mainstream, signed artists.
A lot of the growing artists move from the miniature stages to internationally renowned stages at Rocking the Daisies, Afrochella (in Ghana and Portugal), AMA fest (United Kingdom), Roskilde (Denmark) and SXSW (USA).
“I think there’s a resonance for platforms like ours because we can’t wait for festivals because we need constant events, and festivals are often one big event,” Dlepu said.
“So what are these artists doing in the meantime? How are they honing their skills as performers?”