Creative wave from South Africa sweeps through Paris

From fashion and concerts to art exhibitions, SA artists have made 2025 a memorable year

- By Vera Mihailovich-Dickman

South African artists in all media have a following in Paris. The Franco-South African arts and culture association, Le Kraal, tries to follow and post on the incoming artists to gather the Saffas living here around them and celebrate the art emerging from Mzanzi.

Throughout the year, we have had returning musicians such as Stogie T, BCUC, Bongeziwe Mabandla, and this time Reinhardt Buhr.

The year kicked off with the sublime Soweto Gospel Choir at the Folies Bergères and again at the Paris-New York Heritage Festival in July.

They were joined by DJ Nicky B of Kaya FM and DJ Mo Laudi of Amapiano Soundsystem fame, who is also an artist-curator in his own right. In street dance, hip-hop pantsula star Jed Lawrence (Jed BBoy) of the Ubuntu BBoys made his presence felt at a peer gathering of stars in Massy, just south of Paris.

Singer Nicole Karmine brought truly South African vibes to the Latin Quarter, showcasing South African singers with her three evenings at Pomme d’Eve (the only South African pub in Paris): a session with the Duo Oud and singer-songwriter-dancer Vuyo; a live blues session with guitarists Vivian aka Gerry Tomcat Hattrick Horwitz and Mike Dickman; and an AfriFrans night where she performed with a French guitarist, singing in French, English and Afrikaans.

The live scene in 2025 was further enhanced by MaXhosa Africa’s runway presence in both fashion weeks (autumn/fall, then spring/summer), each time accompanied by a talented live singer, Maglera Doe Boy or Zawadi Yamungu. South Africans can be proud of the variety of colours, styles and flowing textures, the designs acknowledging traditional inspiration.

But it’s the visual and performance arts that have kept us the busiest. The Centre Pompidou this year used a self-portrait by Gerard Sekoto on the poster for its major Paris Noir show, a retrospective on 50 years of black artists in Paris.