Singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela is one of the few South African artists booked for the FIFA World Cup concert on June 10. (Elizabeth Cook/vusimahlasela.com)

FIFA World Cup organizers are under pressure to expand their concert lineup after South African artists complained about being left out of the concert scheduled for June 10.

The concert features Shakira, Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas and John Legend but only a handful of African artists.

Irvin Khoza, chair of the organizing committee, said the group is considering whether to add more local artists to the lineup and will decide by April 12.

So far, the only South African artists involved are hip hop group BLK JKS, the Parlotones and singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela.

South African Culture Minister Lulu Xingwana met with World Cup organizers last week and called for more use of local artists.

"We're not saying we don't want people from other parts of the world," Xingwana said on South African TV. "We're simply saying we'd like to see more African and South African participation."

She was responding to the concerns of artists groups, who complained their role was being "undermined" by FIFA organizers.

"There is nothing African about this so-called African spectacle," Mabutho "Kid" Sithole, president of the Creative Workers' Union, said in an interview with the Sowetan newspaper.

He said South Africa is passing up the opportunity to showcase its own culture and suggested local artists should hold a parallel concert in Johannesburg.

Local organizers said the event must have an international character and urged South Africans to show their hospitality to international guests.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke defended the international concert lineup in a news conference Thursday, saying it was an expensive undertaking.

It would be wrong to believe the 2010 official concert is the only FIFA World Cup opportunity for South African artists, he said.

"Yes, this is Africa's World Cup, but it is also an international event," Valcke said. "And whatever I am hearing and reading, I close my eyes and ears and I will just say I am sorry because it is too late."