BARLEYCORN Lineup 17th August 2026
Barleycorn Music Club Newsletter
Hello Barleycorn Friends & Family
We are back on Monday, August 17th, and we’ve got something special lined up to celebrate!
We've missed the music, the room, and the community, so we’re kicking off with a special two-act night: an intimate, reflective opening set followed by an expansive, multi-genre double-slot album launch.
The Opener
Adam Grey:
After two decades in the corporate jungle, Carl is back behind the guitar with a handful of raw, honest songs. He has no plans to record his music - he’d rather share it right here in the room, reflecting on organic connection, community, and what spaces like Barleycorn mean in a hyper-digitised world.
The Main Act
Aldano - Home or Away Part 1:
Taking over the main stage to celebrate the release of their new album Home or Away Part 1, Aldano is a genre-fluid Cape Town collective founded by scholar and musician Riaan “Riggs” Oppelt. Fronted by the soulful, captivating Jammy-Lee Lemini, the group blends alt-rock, Afrobeat, synth-pop, and folk sung across seven languages. It’s vibrant, deeply collaborative, and the perfect soundtrack to bring our stage back to life.
Pull through, grab a drink, and come celebrate with us our return to the weekly schedule. See you Monday 17th!
Find out more below!
Doors open 6:30 PM, music kicking off 7:30 PM.
BOOKINGS: 021 689 4176
VENUE:
Rondebosch Golf Club
Klipfontein Rd -> Golf Course Rd
Southern Suburbs, Cape Town
* ENTRY:
R60 — Non-members
R50 — Members/Pensioners/Students
PAYMENT:
For ENTRY — Cash or Card
For FOOD & DRINKS — Card ONLY
FIND IT ON:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EPrdTJQfH/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Db0BlMuMgSi/
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FEATURING:
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Adam Grey
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Carl recently picked up his guitar again after some success as a student musician with Johannesburg acoustic duo Twofold, regularly opening for artists such as Louise Carver.
After close to 20 years in the corporate jungle, he found his way back to music and began writing songs again. Less a performer than a storyteller, he writes in the hope that the songs might resonate with the people he gets to share them with.
On the 17th at the Barleycorn, he’ll be sharing a few of those songs and stories — including some reflections on the club itself, and on where organic places of connection might still belong in an increasingly disconnected and digitised world.
He plays under the name Adam Grey and has no ambition to record his music. He’d rather share it in a room, with people, and hope that somewhere along the way it sparks a thought, a conversation, or a small reminder of what it means to be alive — and not alone.
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Aldano - Home or Away Part 1 Album Launch
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Aldano is a Cape Town-based music collective founded by guitarist, bassist, songwriter, and Cultural Studies scholar Riaan “Riggs” Oppelt. Blending alternative rock, melodic guitar pop, Afrobeat, R&B, synth-pop, folk, and punk, the project reflects Oppelt’s longstanding interest in language, identity, migration, and contemporary African life. More than a conventional band, Aldano operates as a collaborative creative community, bringing together musicians, poets, academics, and artists from across Southern Africa and beyond.
The project traces its origins to 2003, when Oppelt began collaborating with guitarist Robin Lang, a partnership that continues to shape Aldano's sound. Over the following two decades, Oppelt performed in several bands — including Makeshifte, Soltree, RareView, and Orwellington — while developing an academic career focused on postcolonial culture and African identities. Aldano became the meeting point of these parallel pursuits, combining songwriting with broader questions of belonging, history, and place.
Aldano released its debut album, Cold Smoke, in 2018. Produced by Jo Ellis, it followed a young couple navigating a fractured and politically unstable Cape Town in a speculative narrative. Among its B-sides was Nigeria Nourish, a collaboration with writer Temitope Adebiyi that foreshadowed the continental themes defining the project’s next chapter.
That chapter became Home or Away, a work Oppelt had been imagining since 2008. Shaped by years of writing, the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, and personal experiences of grief, the album gradually evolved into a large-scale exploration of migration, loss, hope, and connection.
Released on 29 May 2026, Home or Away Part 1 is the opening instalment of a planned trilogy. Sung in seven languages — English, Shona, Yoruba, Swahili, Xhosa, Zulu, and Kaaps — it draws on contributions from artists across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, and beyond.
Recorded in professional studios, homes, and improvised spaces, its production embraces a deliberately eclectic and community-driven approach. The result is an album that mirrors its central concern: how people create belonging across borders, languages, and histories.
Central to Aldano’s current identity is lead vocalist and frontperson Jammy-Lee Lemini, whose performances bring emotional urgency and empathy to the music. She describes Home or Away as a “mixture of all our personalities.” The band’s extended network includes academics, family members, community artists, and longtime musical collaborators, reflecting its collective ethos and commitment to shared creativity. Drummer Bert Zona says that “no two band members are alike, and neither are the album's songs alike, so that's how we celebrate diversity. There's room for everyone and their sound.” Singer Spencer Stevens adds that, “we don't have a set genre and we prefer it so.”
The themes of Home or Away emerge from lived experiences of movement and displacement — South Africans leaving for Perth, London, and Berlin; Africans arriving in South Africa from elsewhere on the continent; Eastern Cape people navigating the distance of the Western Cape. The album addresses xenophobia, migration, economic inequality, and cultural exchange while celebrating how people enrich one another through encounter and coexistence.
Jammy-Lee Lemini: Lead vocals / front person
Riaan “Riggs” Oppelt: Guitar, bass, keys, songwriter
Gilbert “Bert” Zona: Drums, vocals, co-songwriter
Robin Lang: Lead guitar, multi-instrumentalist
Alun Tucker: Bass, co-songwriter (Part 2)
Spencer Stevens: Vocals (Cold Smoke / Part 1)