Siki Jo-an Zuma has been steadily growing as an artist since she first wowed South African audiences when participating in the popular TV show The Voice. The Eastern Cape-born singer song-writer has been a student of music since the age of six, and later pursued her studies of music at Rhodes University. She was recently one of 40 recipients of Concerts SA Mobility Grant, which helped support artists in organising tours. Though fairly early in her career, she has performed quite extensively and spent years carving out audiences in different cities.
Speaking about what it takes to tour nationally in South Africa as a young artist, she provides an in-depth breakdown of her recent experience and says, “Overall, the tour went very well. We had positive audience responses, good attendance at most shows, and meaningful engagement with local musicians and communities. Although some cities didn’t show us enough support, we could improve on our marketing campaigns in the future. “
For the tour she focused on selecting venues and cities where she had existing relationships with venue owners and fan base as well as areas where she wanted to grow her audience. The tour saw Zuma and her band start at the UKZN Jazz Centre in in Durban; The One Room in Port Elizabeth which she described as “amazing”, followed by a concert in Cape Town at Selective Live and wrapping up at Kings Kraal in Johannesburg.
For Zuma, the funding was really important and crucial for covering core tour expenses — mainly travel costs such as artist booking fees, venue fees, transport and accommodation. “Without this support” she says, “it would have been very difficult to manage the logistical side of the tour while still paying booking fees to the musicians.”
Aside from making the tour possible to perform in multiple provinces, reaching new audiences and strengthening professional networks, Zuma says the funding also “gave us the confidence to plan a larger-scale project, knowing that part of the financial burden was eased. In essence, it turned what would have been a small local series of gigs into a cohesive and impactful national tour. We were able to focus on being creatives rather than the worries about finances.”
“We truly appreciate the continued support from Concerts SA not just financially, but also for promoting live music culture across the country. We appreciate the social media posts and news letters.”
One suggestion going forward that Zuma had is for Concerts SA to consider longer funding cycles or multi-phase support, especially for artists touring multiple provinces, as she says that would help artists to plan further ahead and create even more sustainable touring networks.
She says as a group, they haven’t been able to do as many tours, due to limited funding opportunities and the high costs of funding. “We’ve done a few tours out of our pocket so far, however I believe we could do more if we could have more organisations supporting us like how Concerts SA and partners are doing. The Concerts SA grant is unique in that it directly supported live music mobility. Without that kind of backing, it’s much harder to tour widely, especially as an independent artist.”