Metro FM celebrates 40 years of shaping the sound of South Africa as its Love Movement: Disoufeng Edition brings music, memories and generations together in Soweto.
There are some places where music is simply played, and then there are places where music becomes part of the identity of a community.
On Sunday, 27 September 2026, those two worlds come together when the Metro FM Love Movement Disoufeng Edition takes over the Soweto lifestyle destination for an afternoon and evening celebrating 40 years of Metro FM and the generations of listeners who have grown up with the station.
From midday until late, Disoufeng in Meadowlands will become a meeting point for music lovers, old friends, couples, families and fans of the voices and sounds that have helped shape South Africa’s urban music culture.
The event forms part of Metro FM’s 40th anniversary celebrations. The station traces its origins to Radio Metro, which launched in 1986, making 2026 its 40th year on air.
The Disoufeng edition brings together a distinctly cross-generational lineup featuring Wilson B Nkosi, Paul Mtirara, Sentle Lehoko, Msizi Shembe, Monique Bingham, Vusi Nova, Mdu Masilela, DJ Young and Team Matured Sundays, with Bongani Drama and Mish Mash on hosting duties.
A celebration built around memories
For many South Africans, Metro FM is more than a radio station. Its four decades on air have been intertwined with the country’s music, entertainment and lifestyle landscape, giving listeners programmes, presenters, artists and songs that became part of everyday life.
That history is particularly meaningful in Soweto, where music has long been central to social life and where Disoufeng has built its own reputation as a destination for entertainment, food, hospitality and community.
Disoufeng founder Tebogo Phiri has consistently described the business as something bigger than a conventional nightlife venue.
“We focus on creating an experience rather than just a venue.” He also describes the philosophy behind the business simply: “Disoufeng was built within the community and for the community.”
That philosophy makes the Love Movement’s arrival at the venue especially fitting. The event is not only about getting people through the gates. It is about creating the kind of Sunday where music becomes the common language – where a familiar introduction can spark a memory, an old favourite can bring strangers onto the dance floor and generations can find themselves singing along to the same song.
From a Soweto dream to a lifestyle destination
Phiri’s own journey is part of the Disoufeng story.
Long before the venue became an established Soweto entertainment destination, Phiri was building his entrepreneurial instincts through small jobs while growing up. A 2015 profile of the businessman reported that he sold popcorn at school and assisted a vegetable vendor in exchange for leftover vegetables to help support his single-parent mother.
He later built a career in the motor industry, reaching the position of branch manager at Volkswagen before making the decision to leave corporate employment and pursue his ambition of owning a pub.
That decision eventually became Disoufeng.
The venue’s name itself reflects the character of its roots. “Disoufeng” refers to a sofa or couch – a fitting name for a place designed around gathering, relaxing and spending time with other people.
The business has had to navigate the realities of building and sustaining a township enterprise. During the Covid-19 lockdown, Disoufeng responded by introducing a delivery service and an app to continue serving customers when traditional restaurant operations were restricted.
In May 2022, the venue was also hit by a serious fire that damaged its east wing, shortly before its planned 12th anniversary celebrations.
Yet Disoufeng continued to evolve.
In 2023, the venue won Best Urban Lifestyle Venue at the Soweto Tourism Awards, and in 2026 it received two further recognitions – Best Urban Lifestyle (Nightlife Experience) and Best Wellness Tourism. Phiri said the awards validated the vision of creating a complete lifestyle experience rooted in Soweto.
Now the soundtrack comes home
The Metro FM Love Movement Disoufeng Edition arrives at a venue whose story has been shaped by music, community, resilience and the simple pleasure of bringing people together.
For Phiri, that connection between people and place remains central to the Disoufeng identity. His description of the venue as a space that combines hospitality with authentic Soweto culture mirrors the spirit of an event built around four decades of memories.
And with artists spanning generations – from the unmistakable voice of Wilson B Nkosi and the classic sounds associated with Mdu Masilela to the soulful presence of Monique Bingham and Vusi Nova – the lineup is designed to move comfortably between nostalgia and the present.
There will be songs that people remember from their younger years. There will be artists whose music has travelled across generations. And there will be the unmistakable atmosphere of a Soweto Sunday.
Metro FM’s 40th anniversary theme, “The Sound of Us”, therefore feels particularly relevant at Disoufeng – a place where the sound of music, conversation and community has become part of the experience.
A Sunday made for the grown-ups
The Metro FM Love Movement: Disoufeng Edition takes place on Sunday, 27 September 2026, from 12h00 until late at Disoufeng, Soweto.
Tickets are available through Computicket, with General Access Phase 1 at R150, Phase 2 at R250 and VIP access at R450. Table bookings are available on 076 520 2074.
For Metro FM, it is a celebration of 40 years on air.
For Disoufeng, it is another chapter in a Soweto story that began with one entrepreneur’s decision to leave a secure corporate career and build something of his own.
And for the people coming through the gates, it could simply be what every great Sunday should be – good music, familiar faces, new memories and a soundtrack worth talking about long after the last song.
Metro FM Love Movement: Disoufeng Edition
Date: 27 September 2026
Time: 12h00 till late
Venue: Disoufeng, Soweto
Tickets: Computicket
Table bookings: 076 520 2074
