This October, Zolani Mahola takes over the Artscape Theatre for one night only with People Power – a joyous and deeply moving live experience about who we are, where we come from, and the future we have the power to create.
On Saturday, 10 October, 2026 at 8pm, Zolani will be joined by her formidable all-female band, The Feminine Force, under the musical direction of acclaimed bassist, vocalist, composer and producer Aus’ Tebza.
Expect a night that moves
From Afro-pop and African soul to gqom, soaring anthems and stripped-back acoustic moments, Zolani will bring together new music and much-loved songs from across her career in a 70-minute live show built for the intimacy of the Artscape Theatre.
But People Power is about more than music. It’s also about what happens when a room full of strangers remembers something together.
The nostalgia. The songs that take you back. The uncomfortable questions. The release of singing together. And the possibility that, for 70 minutes, a theatre can become a place where we imagine something better.
At the center of the show is a question that feels especially urgent: What becomes possible when we choose to protect childhood?
Zolani invites audiences to remember the children they once were, consider the adults they have become and imagine the South Africa we could create if every child were given the space to feel safe, valued and free to become their fullest self.
“This concert begins with children, but it is ultimately a work about all of us.”
It is an idea deeply connected to Zolani’s work beyond the stage. For years, she has championed the wellbeing and potential of children through her work with child-focused organizations, while using music and theatre to create experiences that ask audiences not only to watch, but to feel, remember and recognize their own power to create change.
Iconic stages
And few artists can bring that story to a stage quite like Zolani Mahola.
Across a career spanning 25 years, she has gone from fronting Freshlyground to performing on some of the world’s most iconic stages, including Carnegie Hall, The Apollo Theater, Radio City Music Hall and Zénith Paris, while sharing stages with artists including Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Yo-Yo Ma, Hugh Masekela, Vusi Mahlasela, Thandiswa Mazwai and Simphiwe Dana, among others.
Now she brings all of that history, joy, fire and purpose home to Cape Town, into an intimate theatre, with an extraordinary band, new music, familiar songs and a story that reaches far beyond the stage.
For one night, we get to meet Zolani not only as the singer we know, but as the storyteller, theatre-maker and artist she has become over 25 years. Her work has always sought to do more than entertain: to make audiences feel, remember and recognize their own capacity to create change.
People Power forms part of Voices of the Ages, presented by Elvis Sibeko Studios in association with Artscape, a curated concert series celebrating artists whose music carries memory, identity and hope across generations.
What: Zolani Mahola People Power
When: Saturday, 10 October 2026, 8pm
Where: Artscape Theatre, Cape Town
Tickets: Here
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