WOMAD (World of Art, Music, and Dance) Festival Cape Town returns from 15–24 September with a programme that stretches well beyond its conventional format. Spread across the Artscape Theatre complex and various venues around the city, this year’s edition brings together music, dance, workshops and international collaborations, with a focus on cultural exchange sitting at the centre of the programme.
This year, WOMAD unveils their most ambitious edition yet. “It’s an explosion of creativity, extraordinary performances, and epic milestones in our nation’s story,” says WOMAD South Africa Festival Director Dan Chiorboli. “In a world full of challenges, WOMAD’s values shine through, celebrating unity, artistry, and the power of culture to inspire hope.” And the timing couldn’t be more significant, too. 2026 marks Artscape’s 55th anniversary and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 95th birthday, while South Africa commemorates 30 years of its groundbreaking Constitution.
One of the festival’s most intriguing meetings happens at the United 4 Humanity Peace Concert at Artscape on 19 September, where Cape Town’s Unmute Dance Company will collaborate with UK electronic duo Dyskinetic. Unmute brings together dancers with and without disabilities, Dyskinetic use a motion-sensing glove to translate movement into music through live looping and real-time composition. Rather than treating accessibility as something added around the performance, the collaboration puts movement, technology and different ways of experiencing the world directly into the creative process.
All proceeds from the concert will support the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. Artscape CEO Marlene Le Roux says the partnership is part of the institution’s own movement “from exclusivity towards inclusivity”, adding that cultural exchange is “an active, conscious decision to allow artists from across the globe to share their life experiences through music and art.”
There’s a similar emphasis on making connections rather than simply putting international and local artists on the same bill in WOMAD’s New Generations concert on 19 September. Cape Town artists Freddy L and Luukhanyo & The Hii Rollers will collaborate with Congolese-Austrian artist Kimyan and Māori musician Kapowairua respectively, while Mila Smith joins the programme alongside 10 young Cape Flats drummers. Freddy L and Kimyan, who began exchanging ideas online before meeting in person, will also work with learners from the Kwena Music Academy on a live recording session, while a Spanish Cajoneada experience led by Pepe Zapata brings flamenco rhythms into conversation with Cape Town musicians and dancers.
Heritage is another thread running through the programme, although WOMAD’s version of heritage seems less interested in putting culture behind glass than in seeing what happens when it keeps moving. As the organisers put it, “heritage is not simply something we remember, it is something we continue to create, reinterpret and share.” A Miriam Makeba tribute at Drumstruck on 16 September will combine Hassan’adas Band with poetry, storytelling and music, while the festival’s 20 September finale marks 30 years of Cuba’s Buena Vista Social Club. The Hassan’adas Big Band will move between the legendary Cuban ensemble’s repertoire and South African classics, including a salsa-inflected take on Makeba’s “Pata Pata”, with Koko-Jean & The Tonics opening and a tribute to Cape Town hip-hop pioneers Prophets of da City also forming part of the afternoon.
That sense of exchange is ultimately what WOMAD appears to be building the 2026 series around: not simply bringing the world to Cape Town, but creating spaces where different generations, disciplines and cultures can actually make something together. Alongside the headline concerts, the programme includes free workshops, intimate performances, a Korean K-Pop Culture Concert and a Fringe Festival spread across the city. “Music is one of the most powerful tools we have to unite people across cultures, genres, geographies, and divides,” says Janet Jobson, CEO of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. “We know the Arch would be dancing in the aisles, and we hope you will be too!”
WOMAD Festival starts tomorrow, September 15th and runs until September 24th. More information on the festival can be found via its website. Photos by Simon.
