With most of the planet now under some form of lockdown the world’s musicians, DJs, actors, artists and thought leaders are all going online to keep our spirits up while we all join the fight to flatten the curve and keep our most vulnerable communities safe from the Coronavirus by staying at home.
Here’s a look at some of the best concerts, parties and virtual music festivals to stream online this week.
Standard Bank Arts live sessions
Standard Bank Arts presents a weekly live performance series featuring Standard Bank Young Artists award-winners including: bassist, composer and producer Shane Cooper, pianist and unique vocalist Thandi Ntuli and one of South Africa’s premier jazz double bass and electric bass players Benjamin Jephta.
This months schedule of concerts is as follows:
Shane Cooper (pictured top) – Thu April 16
Thandi Ntuli – Thu April 23
Benjamin Jephta – Thu May 07
Find out more and watch live on Facebook.
Naked Insurance’s #GetNakedLive at home concert sessions
South African insurance company Naked Insurance is helping supporting local musicians by sponsoring the new online #GetNakedLive series of concerts, streaming twice weekly on Instagram. Local artists who have already performed on the platform include Msaki, Shortraw, Majozi and Desmond the Tutus.
Follow them here on Instagram to see who’s next on the schedule and watch live on Instagram TV.
DJ Black Coffee’s Home Brewed Live Stream
Africa’s biggest DJ Black Coffee is hitting the decks every Saturday night at home with the Home Brewed live streaming party. The weekly party is also a fundraiser for the South African Solidarity Fund and partygoers are asked to donate what they would ordinarily be paying to see the DJ live to his Go Fund Me Covid-19 relief page.
Join the party every Saturday live on Facebook from 21:00.
Social Distancing Festival
Some very clever and busy people have been busy pulling together hundreds of online-streamed cultural events happening around the world including DJ sets, opera, concerts, theatre, poetry, storytelling, stand-up comedy and more.
Head to The Social Distancing Festival website to browse the calendar of events to watch online.
NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts
There couldn’t be a better time to go back and enjoy NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts series which sees a host of interesting world music stars visiting the NPR office to perform an acoustic concert recorded at the so-called Tiny Desk.
With lockdown now in place Tiny Desk continues but rebranded as the Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts. Watch all the Tiny Desk concerts online at npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/. This recent gig by Black Thought of The Roots is particularly good.
Zolani Mahola live
Lead singer of Freshlyground Zolani Mahola is performing every day on her Facebook and Instagram pages and featuring guest performers too. Performances usually take place in the evenings and ever the humanitarian Mahola also shares with every concert a worthy cause that you can contribute to.
Check out her Facebook page for more and follow the hashtag #TOWSlive for the latest.
Strawberry Lips In House Sessions
Join South Africa’s top female DJs for a weekly virtual session every Saturday from 17:00–18:00 until May 2. The Sistahood Sessions line-up has been created by Strawberry Lips and is as follows: April 4 – Abby Nurock; April 11 – Dbn Gogo; April 18 – Tenoceans; April 25 – DJ Ash and May 2 – DJ Buhle.
Join the livestream on Facebook here
Goliaths Go live on Sky Room Live
Laughter is the best medicine. At least for boredom and virus-news fatigue! Set a reminder every day for 2pm and tune in to Goliath and Goliath’s new Go Live online comedy show. Nicholas, Donovan and Jason Goliath give you their daily comedic, light-hearted take on lockdown 101 from the best memes to a weather report (from their windows) plus daily celebrity guest spots. If you think you have some Coronavirus funnies to share you can also send in your spots to be featured on the show by sharing with the hashtag #GoliathsGoLive #SkyRoomLive
Watch live every day at 14:00 at skyroomlive.com
This recent performance by Black Thought from The Roots is an extra special treat.
Channel O Lockdown House Party
Hosted by DJs pH and Shimza the Lockdown House Party has moved to Channel O (DStv Channel 320) in partnership with Hunter’s Cider. The party kicks off every Friday and Saturday night from 18:00 until midnight. Featured DJs with sets on the programme include DJ Maphorisa, Black Motion, DJ Zinhle, MFR Souls, Earful Soul, Ms Cosmo, DJ Fresh and Mo Flava.
D-Nice’s Club Quarantine
An early pioneer of the online DJ party, Chicago house music DJ D-Nice’s epic quarantine parties keep on going and have a phenomenal celebrity following (even Oprah’s a fan). Join the all-night party on his Instagram page on Saturdays from 15:00 PT (midnight in South Africa).
Rolling Stone ‘In My Room’ series
The world’s most famous music magazine Rolling Stone has been calling on rock legends to perform acoustic sets online live-streamed from their rockstar homes. A new performance goes out weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on their Instagram page.
One World Together at Home with Global Citizen
Global Citizen has partnered up with artists across the world to stream concerts, filmed in the artist’s homes, on their Instagram page. Themed ‘Together at Home’ the series has so far featured major names such as John Legend, One Republic, Chris Martin, Ziggy Marley, Common and Miguel. You can check out these full-length performances, as well as performances from their epic One World Together at Home festival on Global Citizen’s Instagram TV page.