Cape music picks: November 11 2011

Tori Amos performs in the Mother City, while the Zula Fest celebrates diversity.

■ Back in the 1990s Tori Amos’s ­delicate progressive-rock piano work and confessional, poetically quirky lyrics provided an ­alternative ­coming-of-age soundtrack for ­a generation of tweenie outsiders.

A decade later, that generation has grown up and is hungry for more sophisticated pop sounds.

Amos has unearthed them, finding depth in the work of ­Israeli-born, Cape Town-raised singer-songwriter Yoav. Amos first heard Yoav in 2007 when an agent slipped her his debut album, Charmed & Strange. She ­immediately booked him to tour with her and it was not long before he was getting invitations from the likes of Imogen Heap and Katie Melua. Get a glimpse of Yoav and Amos’s unique ­musical chemistry when he provides the ­support for her Night of Hunters tour.

Grand Arena, Grandwest Casino & Entertainment World, 1 Vanguard Drive, Goodwood, November 17 at 8pm. Tickets range from R395 to R695. Book at ­Computicket. Tel: 021 505 7777.

■ In a city known for its cliques, cabals and closed circuits, Zula is a rare desegregated zone, a club that caters to everyone from indie-rock shoe-gazers and punk pundits to electro whizz-kids, the Smarties set and conscious hip-hop heads.

The Zula Fest is a celebration of diversity. Friday night sets the tone by billing melodic rockers Plush back to back with the pop-soul ­township jive of Nomfusi & the Lucky Charms, the darker blues-rock riffs of Machineri and the ­femme-folk sounds of Josie Field. Meanwhile, the downstairs stage sees punk pundits Hog Hoggidy Hog sparring with Napalma’s electro-percussive beats, Bed on Bricks’s funk rock and 3rd World Spectator.

Saturday is an equally mad mash-up. ­Mozambican dub rockers 340ml ­perform ­alongside female emcee EJ Von Lyrik’s raps and Sons of ­Selassie’s reggae grooves. Classic rockers Taxi Violence and quirky indie outsiders the Plastics share the stage with Reburn, Lonesome Dave Ferguson, St Fearless and even the Matt Samson Project.

Zula Sound Bar & ­Restaurant, 98 Long Street, November 11 and 12 at 8pm. Entrance is R80 for one night or R150 for a weekend pass.