Live Music in Pretoria

Known locally as the Jacaranda City, Pretoria holds a legitimate claim as one of the primary origin points of Amapiano, the genre that fused deep house, kwaito, and jazz into a sound now heard across the continent and beyond. The city also produced Bacardi music, a faster, bass-heavy subgenre of Kwaito that emerged from Mamelodi West in the early 1990s and has recently experienced a resurgence. Artists from A-Reece to Vigro Deep to Seether have come out of Pretoria, reflecting a scene that runs from hip-hop and Amapiano through to rock. On the ground, venues like Tings an' Times, an established live music destination running for over 20 years, sit alongside Priva Gastrolounge for jazz and blues, Railways Café in Irene for a more bohemian experience, and Café Barcelona Gigs in Colbyn, a longtime gathering point for South African musicians.