Discover Our 2026 Artists - WOMAD Festival

This trio from Bogotá marry traditional Colombian percussion with hard and heavy electronic beats to create Latin-flavoured techno and acid house.

Ácido Pantera (Colombia)

In another life, Eastender Alfa Mist might have become a professional footballer, but music – jazz in particular, discovered through hip hop samples – got in the way. Having taught himself piano, his impact has since been huge, making music that’s utterly true to himself and his sense of place, along the way picking up the odd MOBO nomination.

Alfa Mist (UK)

Singer and producer who’s in the vanguard of updating Portugal’s folk traditions with bold, hip-hop-influenced rhythms and flavours. A brave new world beyond fado.

Ana Lua Caiano (Portugal)

Annie-and-the-Caldwells-by-Annie-Forrest-1sm

Proof that the state of Mississippi doesn’t just do lonesome bluesmen. This quartet deals in impeccable, funky-as-you-like disco soul, underpinned with a scorching gospel feel.

ANNIE & THE CALDWELLS (USA)

When he burst on the scene in the 1980s, Barrington Levy very quickly showed himself to be the owner of one of the most golden voices of the dancehall era, thanks to classic hits like ‘Here I Come’. Now among reggae’s wise elders, that voice remains as pure and clear as ever. Here he comes again.

Barrington Levy (Jamaica)

An octet of seven singers and a single percussionist, Barrut’s multiple voices weave in and out as they tell stories from their home patch, the Occitania region of southern France. A wonderful polyphonic spree.

Barrut (France)

This five-piece are the latest sensations out of West Africa, their voodoo-inspired sound powered along by some blowtorch rock guitar.

Bénin International Musical (Bénin)

Formed in Lima 20 summers ago, Big Pollo come with very much their sound, which they call ‘chichafunky’, a mix of chicha (their homeland’s take on cumbia) and sharp-toothed funk. How The Meters would sound if they came from the Andes.

Big Pollo (Peru)

Leftfield Scandinavian quartet who draw upon folk, experimental music and electronica, over which vocal harmonies trip, skip and soar in a beguiling and sensual manner.

BITOI (Sweden/Denmark)

Led by the distinctive and stylish Paul Adamah, Boko Yout deliver what he calls Afro-grunge, a boundary-zapping sound that caused The Great Escape festival to declare the Swedes’ set to have been “the biggest, loudest, most original rough-cut diamond of the weekend”.

Boko Yout (SE)

This Cuban-born crate-digger always goes the extra mile in unearthing records that would otherwise largely go unheard. Allow her to be your guide on a sonic excursion through the funked-up tropical sounds of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Cami Layé Oyún (Cuba)

A highlight of the recent WOMAD festival in the medieval Spanish city of Cáceres, Carolina is arguably the hottest star in the flamenco firmament, a passionate singer whose performances come loaded with the required fire and high drama.

Carolina la Chispa (Spain)

The ‘Cheb’ part of his name is the clue. A prefix favoured by the young stars of Algerian raï back in the ’80s (the likes of Cheb Khaled and Cheb Mami), it’s used by the London-based DJ whose calling-card is delivering flavoursome North African grooves.

Cheb Mimo (UK/Alegria/Tunisia)

With a just-released EP out on the Real World label, adopted Londoner Clara draws from her Catalan and Cuban heritage to produce Mediterranean-flavoured electronica with real depth and multiple layers.

Clara Serra López (Spain)

Gilles Peterson-approved, globetrotting DJ whose disc-spinning has thrilled dancefloors right across the planet. Strap in for plenty of sun-splashed tunage, whether samba, cumbia, jazz or Latin funk.

Coco María (Mexico)

The brainchild of Glasgow-based trombonist/multi-instrumentalist Liam Shortall, corto.alto have burst the boundaries of jazz wide open, in the process being shortlisted for the 2024 Mercury Prize.

corto.alto (Scotland)

Bluegrass might have been born in Kentucky, but it’s not played the world over. Here’s how they do it in South Korea – the finger-picking is perfect and the harmonies immaculate.

Country Gongbang (South Korea)

If the records of The Roots, Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest are your preferred flavour of hip hop, this Dallas collective will be right up your freeway. And they arrive with some pedigree, having shared bills with Nas, Ludacris and George Clinton. CURE FOR PARANOIA is the powerhouse Dallas alternative hip-hop collective founded by songwriter and front-man CAMERON MCCLOUD. Cameron captivates audiences with his thoughtful lyrics and an electrifying stage presence that keeps them craving his next move. “I got placed on medication for bipolar depression and paranoid schizophrenia, but it turned out that the music was more therapeutic than the medication was, so I created Cure For Paranoia as a source for therapy for myself, with the hope that eventually it could be therapy for someone else in the future.”

Cure for Paranoia (USA)

This singer from the musically fecund city of Salvador in north-east Brazil has had something of a sterling career. Since her head-turning debut album in 1991, she’s known some real highs, including selling more than 11 million records and duetting with Paul McCartney at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

Daniela Mercury (Brazil)

London-based DJ whose Afro-centric sets reach deep into Africa’s musical history and roots. Expect scintillating highlife, juju, soukous and more.

Dare Balogun (Nigeria/UK)

The much-praised singer leads her open-eared band on a mission to further funkify the Anatolian folk tradition, with plenty of ’60s/’70s psychedelic touches.

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şīmşek (Germany/Türkiye)

DJ Travella leads the latest wave of singeli, the breakneck underground sound of Dar es Salaam that electronically supercharges more traditional instrumental taraab music

DJ Travella (Tanzania)

While steeped in the centuries-honed traditions of West African percussion, Dudù Kouate is also something of a musical modernist, collaborating with the likes of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Dudù Kouate (Senegal)

One of the brightest-shining stars in the British jazz constellation, this Leeds native hasn’t stopped collecting plaudits every step of the way. She’s a woman in full control of her art, a multi-instrumentalist who played almost every note and every beat on her Mercury Prize-nominated second album Weirdo, a record praised by Pitchfork for its “buoyant jazz-funk steeped in melody, vibrant colour and a sneaky sense of humour”.

Emma Jean-Thackray (UK)

Long-admired Afropop outfit from Cape Town whose pan-African sound always carries plenty of sunshine and energy. The video of their collaboration with Shakira, ‘Waka Waka’, has received more than 4.2 billion views online.

Freshlyground (South Africa)

Born in New York and raised in Chennai, singer ganavya pulls together the classical music of south Asia and spiritual jazz. Her collaborators have included Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter, A.R. Rahman and Esperanza Spalding.

ganavya (USA/India)

A one-woman musical force-field, Berlin-based GANNA celebrates traditional Ukrainian folk singing by updating it through the head-spinning use of loops and electronics.

GANNA (Ukraine)

Tremendous outfit from Central America who sing and play the soulful songs of the displaced Garifuna people. As the late DJ Charlie Gillett once declared, they inhabit “the meeting point where ancient meets modern, where acoustic slips effortlessly into and out of electric”.

Explore the Lineup

Find your sound