Live SA, British Council connecting creatives

Musicians, actors, comedians, designers and music fans headed to The Alex for the inaugural South African appearance of Actress aka Darren Cunningham, a London-based electronic music artist who counts Thom Yorke amongst his fans. Actress is no stranger to Africa - he visited the Congo recently as part of Oxfam and Damon Albarn's DRC Music project - but his first-ever Joburg performance was dense, atmospheric and grimy, and a perfect match for the city he was playing in.

Earlier in the evening, BLK JKS turned in a performance that confirmed their standing as a thrilling rock outfit - this time with a reinvigorated line-up and additional live musicians (including some perfectly placed horns). The capacity crowd showed maximum appreciation at seeing one of SA's most transcendental rock outfits and a critically acclaimed minimalist/techno UK innovator on one bill.

Saturday saw the Live SA & British Council Connect ZA Future Music series move to The Assembly in Cape Town where Actress performed alongside a line-up of top DJs including Ivan Turanjanin, Terrence Pearce, Plaigarhythm and Sir Vincent.

The series has been initiated by the British Council to connect the creative communities of the UK and South Africa. From July to October this year, Joburg and Cape Town will play host to the unique monthly mini-tours where UK acts will share line-ups with local underground bands, DJs and performers.

The events are being co-produced and co-curated by Live SA, a youth media company who publish the Live Magazine print and livemag.co.za online platforms for 18-25 year olds in South Africa.

Next month's Live SA and British Council Connect ZA Future Music gigs are on 16 August in Joburg and 17 August in Cape Town.

For more, go to www.connectza.tumblr.com