LIVE XP 002 — LERATO ORCHESTRAL COLLECTIVE (L.O.C*)
RECORDED IN JOHANNESBURG ON APRIL 18TH, 2025
L.O.C* started with a bang. They didn’t wait for the audience—they played with a certainty that once the people heard the music, they wouldn’t have a say in the matter. Their feet would take them to the source. And L.O.C* is the source: a real spirit, an enchanting blast.
This performance, captured during Garden Gig’s 10th Edition, is the second instalment in GUSHER’s Live XP series—our ongoing archive of independent, alternative live music experiences from South Africa and beyond.
The lead vocalist, Lesedi Abdul Hakeem Mustafa, moves like a rockstar—jumping, punching air, kicking with purpose. It’s as if the music is rushing through him, using his body to express itself. The rest of the band—BIKO BILAL TSHEPO MAQETUKA MABUSe on drums, Kayleb Sass and Sihle Ribisi on guitar, and Sile Kubheka on bass—seem completely fused with their instruments. Watching L.O.C* feels like witnessing music in its purest form, moving through bodies with intention and urgency.
And at the heart of it all is a message. Lerato means love, and that’s what L.O.C* is here to share. Their music is rooted in the history and present of South Africa. It tells a story—of where young people are today, and how we got here, through grief and joy, struggle and celebration.
Their sound reflects that. Bright, deliberate, powerful. Focused on healing and remembering. You could feel it take over the audience: bodies moving, people colliding, something deeper unfolding. A kind of grounded hope rose up—a feeling that maybe the youth will do something great with this place. That even in the midst of it all, the music is still going to be incredible.