The Marabi Club

The Marabi Club is the home of superb food and drink accompanied by fine live jazz performances. Visible from the street only by the discreet black canopy above a small metal door in Doornfontein, downtown Johannesburg, the Marabi Club harks back to a vibrant history. In the 1920s and 1930s, the rise of the Doornfontein slumyards, created in the wake of one of the world’s richest gold rushes, gave rise to an urban culture known as ‘marabi’. As the foundation of this new culture, the music was energetic and improvisational. It was a lifestyle prompted by the need to escape the hardships of the working week – defined by illegal shebeens, where the fierce talk of politics was accompanied by the equally disruptive soundtrack of jazz. Today the Marabi Club, tucked into the basement of Hallmark House, evokes this history through the many careful details of the club’s interior. Add excellent food, a long bar, jauntily dressed waitrons offering friendly and slick service, and live jazz.