WOMEX 24 Venues
Aviva Studios
Aviva Studios
Manchester Central Exchange Auditorium
The Bridgewater Hall
Albert Hall
Aviva Studios The Hall
O2 Ritz Manchester
Adédèji
On his third album, Yoruba Odyssey, Lagos-born singer, guitarist, composer, Adédèjì, masterfully consolidates his international influences on his Yoruba roots, creating a powerful, forward-looking sound that stands firmly on terrain pioneered by Fela Kuti and King...
Agbeko
Agbeko are an Afrobeat-inspired juggernaut born out of reverence for music of West Africa in the 1970s and mixed in a cauldron of psychedelic rock, funk, Ethio-jazz, and contemporary UK jazz. Channelled through an onslaught of horns, irresistible grooves and powerful...
Ali Doğan Gönültaş
Kurdish tembur player, singer and guitarist, Ali Doğan Gönültaş, was born in Kiğı, Eastern Anatolia, an area where memory is stored in music and poetry bearing witness to the rhythms and languages of this once multi-ethnically inhabited region and its turbulent...
Amy Laurenson
Born and raised in Shetland, prodigiously talented pianist Amy Laurenson explores the music of her homeland alongside traditional and folk music from Scotland, Ireland and Scandinavia. Growing up surrounded by classical music, learning bassoon and piano from an early...
Ão
Ão's mystical blend of fado, indie and subtle electronica, fronted by the serenely commanding voice of Brenda Corijn, drawing on her Mozambican-Portuguese roots, has brought critical acclaim for their debut album and appearances at major European festivals.
Balimaya Project
Formed in 2019 by composer, arranger, djembe maestro and spiritual guiding light, Yahael Camara Onono, Balimaya Project intently bridge London's bustling jazz circuit with the traditional repertoire and folklore of the Mandé peoples of West Africa, and in turn connect...
Barrut
Barrut are seven singers and a percussionist who find the source for their powerfully compelling songs in the vocal polyphonies of the French region of Occitânia. They call the collective trance state to which they lead their audience ''a thread stretched across the...
BIM (Benin International Musical)
BIM is a collective of six Beninese artists coming together to celebrate, and demonstrate to the world, the vital and enduring legacy of Beninese Vodou worship dances. It can be said that Vodou is present in the DNA of all major musical currents of the 20th century:...
Buzz’ Ayaz
Monsieur Doumani founder, Antonis Antoniou's new project manifests a fuzzy urban soundscape of synth textures, dubby electronics, ‘70s psych organ, growling reed utterances, big beats and microtonal Anatolian melodic spices, serving up fresh Eastern-Mediterranean...
Casapalma
Rediscovering Cantabrian folklore for the 21st century, Irene Atienza and Yoel Molina explore the jotas, tonadas and other traditions that Irene grew up with in her family home in Santander, and re-code them for the digital world.
Cerys Hafana
Cerys Hafana is a Welsh composer and multi-instrumentalist who mangles, mutates and transforms traditional music, exploring the creative possibilities of the Welsh triple harp, exposing it to found sounds, archival material and electronic processing, interpreting the...
Clare Sands
Clare Sands is a sixth-generation fiddler, guitarist and rooted bilingual singer from Cork, Ireland. Channelling the music of her ancestors, she treads a path where Irish and English languages, Irish traditional, folk and contemporary music meet, threading through...
Córas Trio
Córas Trio reinvent the spontaneous to create their avantgarde folk, deconstructing traditional melodies and reassembling them within spaces of fiery poly-rhythmic jazz improvisations and serene pastoral reflection, weaving in and out of compelling textures that...
Cristina Clara
Raised in northern Portugal, she studied nursing in Porto, before moving to Lisbon to work in a hospital by day, while beginning a musical career by night, singing in the fado houses and meeting artists from every corner of the Lusophone world. With her artistic...
![D[Nowhere]J](https://womex-festival.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dnowherej_1140x705-400x250.jpg)
D[Nowhere]J
Internationally renowned DJ from Johannesburg's vibrant underground club culture demonstrates the raw beats power of gqom music, with which they have been energising audiences in cities like Rome, Istanbul and Oslo.
Dirty Freud
Dirty Freud is an electronic live and recording project led by producer Danni Skerritt who has found success since moving to the North of England. Described as “wonderfully wonky” by BBC Radio 6Music’s Nemone, their music is live electronica wrapped in jazz melodies....
É.T.É
É.T.É combine violin, cello, bouzouki and scintillating vocal harmonies, creating their own trad universe with original compositions and arrangements of Québécois and Acadian repertoire, bringing the joie de vivre of a kitchen party to international stages.
Ëda Diaz
Since 2017, French-Colombian bassist and singer Ëda Diaz has been exploring and refining what she calls her “French touch in the Colombian way”, to create her innovative mix of traditional Latin American sounds, experimental pop influences and electronic, industrial...
El Laberinto del Coco
Formed in 2017 under the visionary leadership of prolific percussionist and composer, Hector"Coco" Barez, El Laberinto del Coco has evolved into a trailblazingforce in the world of Puerto Rican bomba fusion. Barez is an educator, musicalambassador, in-demand session...
Ensemble Chakâm
Ensemble Chakâm, named after an ancient Persian poetic form, unveils a language of conversing strings, delicate prose and confronting verses, weaving the radiance of Sogol Mirzaei's tar (Iran) with the silk touch of Christine Zayed's qanun (Palestine), and the...
Erol Josué
21st-century renaissance man, Erol Josué, is a singer, songwriter, dancer, actor, playwright and Vodou priest who, in his music and inspirational performances, celebrates the spiritual essence of Haitian Vodou religion, blending sacred chants and rhythms with elements...
Ghazi & Boom.Diwan X Arturo O’Farrill
Founded by applied-ethnomusicologist, professor of music, composer and global jazz musician, Ghazi Al-Mulaifi, Boom.Diwan is a modern Khaleeji ensemble that takes a contemporary approach to reinvigorating the dialogic spirit of Khaleeji sea-faring music.
Gnoss
Formed by the award-winning Orkney duo of fiddler and mandolinist Graham Rorie and singer-guitarist Aidan Moodie, together with flute and whistle wielder Connor Sinclair and Craig Baxter on bodhrán, the Glasgow-based quartet have risen to the fore of Scotland's...
Godblesscomputers
Bologna-based producer Lorenzo Nadalin, aka Godblesscomputers, is a collector of sounds who explores, catalogues, dissects and recomposes them into synthesis elements, advancing into electronic territories while maintaining the original groove and warmth of his sources.
Gwenifer Raymond
Guitar convincer, banjo thumber, Welsh Primitive musician, is Gwenifer Raymond's shorthand description of herself. She persuades her instrument to venture into the darker complexities of open-string tunings, using the clawhammer banjo picking technique, drawing from...
Heather Ferrier
Stockport born accordionist, clog dancer and composer, Heather Ferrier, continues her mission to re-define alt-folk on her own terms. Her latest EP Engine for the Sound creates music that sets the accordion free from its stereotypes, and with an extended line-up of...
House of Waters
House of Waters is the confluence of multiple musical streams. Hammered ducimer virtuoso Max ZT and six-string bassist Moto Fukushima have been guiding the band's fluid course since 2008, embarking on uplifting expeditions across musical borders to create what can't...
Jonathan Ferr
Pianist, composer, filmmaker, fashion icon and dedicated consciousness raiser, Jonathan Ferr is a pioneering exponent of urban jazz in Brazil, crossing social and musical boundaries, mixing elements of hip-hop, r&b, candomblé ritual, Afro-futurism and the timeless...
Justin Adams & Mauro Durante
Justin Adams and Mauro Durante share a fascination for trance rhythms and their manifestation from the Mediterranean to Mississippi. Their 2021 debut Still Moving – a live-to-tape recording with no overdubs – catches the wide-screen sounds of the duo as they follow...
Kabaka Pyramid
The Kingston-born poet, singer, producer and conscious revolutionary, Kabaka Pyramid, says that his journey in music has a higher purpose, not just to get rich or popular, but to inspire a higher vibration in whoever listens. It's a vibration well received by his...
Kamakan
Born in Ahwaz in Iran, Mehdi Saki grew up to the sound of Arabic lullabies from his native province, close to the border with Iraq. Dance and music were an escape from the turmoil of war around him. He studied dance and theatre in Tehran before gathering musicians of...
Katarina Barruk
The spiritual essence at the heart of Katarina Barruk's music is expressed through the Ume Sámi language spoken by her Swedish Sámi community located in the wide expanses above the Arctic Circle. Ume Sámi is on UNESCO’s Red List of endangered Indigenous languages, but...
Kefaya & Elaha Soroor
The award-winning band Kefaya & Elaha Soroor blend Afghan folk traditions with jazz, electronics, and rock to craft a beautiful fusion of cultures, voices, and rhythms. Their music transcends borders, offering a powerful testament to unity, resilience, and the...
Lenhart Tapes
Lenhart Tapes is a one-man-cassette-tape-manipulator, wielding Walkmans as his instruments, a collector mixing sounds from his archives of field recordings, rare folk music, spoken word and sound propaganda material, conjuring massive soundscapes for his live vocal...
Les Mamans du Congo x Rrobin
Led by charismatic singer and percussionist Gladys Samba, the women's collective, Les Mamans du Congo, came together in 2018 in Brazzaville as a project merging dance with ancient Kongo lullabies, singing in Lari language with rhythms beaten out with forks, plates,...
Maraboutage presents “Indigo, The Cabaret Club”
From their cosmopolitan Marseille, the globe-trotting Maraboutage collective presents its new show, Indigo The Cabaret Club, combining music, dance, set design, performance, costumes and DJs; a magical ceremony celebrating the cross-disciplinary, two-way therapy they...
Mitsune
Berlin-based Japanese neo-folk fusion band, Mitsune, figuratively and literally pluck the Tsuguru Shamisen from its long traditional history and place it in the world of interconnected musics. With members from Japan, Australia, Germany and Greece, Mitsune take their...
MPeach
MPeach, aka Mariana Martin Capriles, is a New York-based Venezuelan vocalist/producer/DJ and audiovisual artist. Since 2011 she has been intertwining bass-heavy electronic sounds with traditional rhythms, honouring cultural roots while pushing the future of Latin...
N’famady Kouyaté
N’famady Kouyaté is a young master musician from Conakry in Guinea, based in Cardiff, Wales since 2019. His primary instrument is the balafon, part of a long family heritage which he learned from his parents at an early age. His arrangements are a fusion of Mandingue...
Orchestra Baobab
Orchestra Baobab are back, celebrating 50 years as one of Senegal's most influential bands. Originally formed as the resident band at the Baobab Club in Dakar, their trailblazing mix of Afro-Cuban sounds mixed with Wolof and Mande influences brought them a string of...
Queralt Lahoz
A cantaora for our times. The moment Queralt Lahoz starts to sing, you sense that she is drawing on a deep gene pool of ethnographic multiplicity, from the raw soul of flamenco, instilled in her by her grandmother, through growing up imbibing Latin artists such as...
Rasha Nahas
Palestinian singer, composer and instrumentalist Rasha Nahas has a distinctive approach to songwriting, storytelling and performance. Trained in classical guitar at an early age, she began writing her own songs in her teens, carving a place in Haifa's underground...
Rei
Rei is a multi-award-winning artist in the new movement of Māori music from Aotearoa New Zealand, fusing his Māori musical heritage with electronic dance and hip-hop, scoring over 12 million Spotify streams and playing major festivals.
Rioghnach Connolly & Honeyfeet
Still residing as BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year, Ríoghnach Connolly's taste for musical adventure is eclectic. Known to many for her involvement in a range of other projects such as The Breath, Afro-Celt Sound System and Band of Burns, she has fronted Honeyfeet...
Sahra Halgan
Iconic singer and cultural activist, Sahra Halgan, lends her powerful voice to the struggle for recognition of Somaliland’s independence. She gained national acclaim in the ‘80s, during the fight to overthrow the Barre regime, as a nurse on the frontline who also sang...
Sara Curruchich
Poet, songwriter and performer of Maya descent, Sara Curruchich skilfully blends elements of her culture with cumbia, rock, reggae, son jarocho, and chacarera, applying her powerful voice to her socially committed lyrics sung in her native language, Kaqchikel, as well...
Sarab
Blasting through style-borders, Sarab joyfully mix Arabic music, jazz and psychedelic rock to create cinematic electronic trance edifices built on sinuous melodies navigating between Eastern and European scales, through mellifluous ornamentation and rousing symphonic...
Shauit
From the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, singer-songwriter Shauit sings about the complexity and beauty of the Innu nation, set in a fusion of folk, roots, and reggae that has brought him multiple awards and international festival appearances.
Stogie T
Stogie T's hard-hitting songs reflect a malaise prevalent in South Africa today: the dream deferred, the loss of hope under the crushing weight of an increasingly failing state. What becomes of the people's thinking, their dysfunctions, and pathologies? These are the...
Strange Boy
Strange Boy is a remarkable contemporary rapper hailing from Limerick who seamlessly blends hip-hop and Irish traditional music, embodying the spirit of a thousand-year-old poet reflecting on the harsh realities of life in a disadvantaged urban landscape, declaiming...
Tuulikki Bartosik
Tuulikki Bartosik is a boundary-pushing, Swedish-Estonian musician and composer, taking her accordion on an innovative musical exploration from serene forest tranquillity to bustling urban energy, gaining international acclaim for her singular neo-classical Nordic...
Votia
It's a family affair. And carrying forward the legacy of Maloya music to inspire future generations is the family business. Votia are led by the powerful voice of Marie-Claude Philéas Lambert, the daughter of Gramoun Lélé, one of the great masters of Maloya's...
Vulva Voce
Creating radical musical experiences, Vulva Voce puts performance at the forefront, combining movement, experimentation and improvisation to produce a truly dynamic show. They combine their musical influences of folk, contemporary classical, techno, and beyond, to...
Zarina Prvasevda
Exploring the labyrinthine roots of the traditional music of the Balkans, award-winning Macedonian artist Zarina Prvasevda and her ensemble celebrate the region's diverse classical folklore through unconventional arrangements, dynamic rhythms and a contemporary...