Africa Oyé 2026 - first names announced.

Saturday, March 14, 2026

The next Africa Oyé festival, celebrating African and Caribbean culture, will take place on 20th and 21st June 2026 in Sefton Park, Liverpool. Press release attached.

We have received the following press release;

Africa Oyé 2026 | International Artists Announced so far.

Returning as a ticketed event for the first time in 2026, Africa Oyé is the UK’s biggest celebration of African and Caribbean music and culture.

The Sunday night headliner for Oyé ’26 is Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer Fatoumata Diawara, who is set to make a triumphant return to Liverpool’s Sefton Park this summer - fifteen years after her first UK festival performance at Africa Oyé!
Having fled Mali at the age of 19, Diawara continues, at 43, to examine society’s flaws while celebrating her dual life as an artist and a mother. Through her vibrant voice, Diawara addresses crucial subjects including female genital mutilation and forced marriage - personal hardships that she transforms into a universal message of hope and resilience.
The Afrofuturist chanteuse blends jazz, funk and folk with traditional Wassoulou music - singing in her mother tongue, Bambara, Diawara’s live shows make her audiences laugh, cry and above all, dance.
“one of the most significant Afrofuturist musicians”
Far Out Magazine

Making his Liverpool debut at this year’s festival is multiple award-winning Nigerian musician, Patoranking.
A visionary in the African music industry and a cultural ambassador for Afrobeats, Patoranking blends the genre with reggae and dancehall to create a unique sound that resonates worldwide. He is a an MTV Africa Music Awards winner and earned recognition in Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 class of 2020.
Patoranking’s career achieved prominence when he released his hit single “My Woman My Everything” in 2016, which played a pivotal role in the global recognition of Afrobeats. With a series of successful releases under his label Amari Musiq including tracks such as “Babylon” “Abule” and “Kolo Kolo” and collaborations with the likes of Major Lazer, Wizkid, and Davido, his music has collectively amassed nearly a billion streams on YouTube alone.

Joining him on the line-up is an exciting band who sadly missed out on their scheduled Sefton Park performance in 2024 due to ill-timed power cuts at Manchester Airport.
Fulu Miziki roughly translates as “music from garbage” which is in a literal sense is an accurate description of the thrillingly chaotic ‘Eco-Friendly-Afro-futuristic-Punk-Assemble’ collective of artists who ‘come straight from a future where humans have reconciled with mother earth and with themselves’.
This multidisciplinary collective of artists is based in the heart of Africa, in the Congolese capital city Kinshasa. For several years now, its members have spent an amount of time conceptualising an orchestra made from objects ‘found in the trash’, constantly changing instruments, and always in search of new sounds. Making their own instruments, performance costumes, and masks is essential to the approach of Fulu Miziki’s musical core ideology.
Their unique sound supports a pan-African message of artistic liberation, peace and an uncompromising look at the ecological situation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the whole world. For Fulu everything can be ‘recovered and re-enchanted’.

The first Black British female reggae artist to have a number one in the UK; a feminist trio from Togo with a transcendent live show; and an Afrofuturist singer-songwriter will also play Africa Oyé this June.
Queen of Lovers Rock, Janet Kay, makes her Oyé debut in 2026. The multi-award winning artist is best known for her stellar hit single ‘Silly Games’, which placed her in the Music Guinness Book of Records as the first Black British born Female Reggae artist to hit the top of the UK Pop Charts. As a ‘sixties child’, Kay was exposed to the singing greats - especially those from the Tamla Motown stable - and her love for singing was born. She has since been produced by a host of legendary producers/artists, including the late great Alton Ellis, Jackie Mitto and Sugar Minot.
Kay’s impact on the UK reggae scene has been inspirational - and her sweet, heartwarming vocals continue to win her many fans around the world. Joining the line up for Sunday at the festival, she will be sure to bring an unforgettable performance to Oyé.

Also announced to perform as part of Oyé’s Sunday line-up is Nana Benz Du Togo. The group consists of 3 formidable feminist voices. Armed with nothing more than their vocals and a vintage Korg keyboard, this powerful ensemble create a unique blend of voodoo tradition and soul.
Nana Benz du Togo channels an organic sound steeped in sub-bass and layered with complex polyrhythms, creating a hypnotic foundation for the voices of these three electrifying electro-soul preachers. Their transcendent live shows are nothing short of spiritual - a blend of ancestral energy and modern fire.
“Stellar vocal performance… the party never stops” Songlines Magazine

Afrofuturist singer-songwriter and pioneer of Congolese Electric music Kizaba returns to Oyé in 2026 with a full ensemble, after successfully opening the 2022 festival as a solo artist.
He skilfully blends ancestral vocals with the vibrant sounds of Congolese soukous and Afrobeat - rooted in an ‘afro-pun philosophy’, and framed by a futuristic aesthetic - with seminal performances at the New Orleans Jazz festival and WOMAD Chile.
The Kizaba live show delivers a truly unique musical experience. Driven by a vibrant and authentic energy, the performance invites audiences on an Afro-futuristic journey - a tribute to ancestral heritage reimagined through the modern sounds of today’s world. Kizaba perform on the Saturday at Oyé ’26.

Paul Duhaney, Artistic Director Africa Oyé:

“Patoranking is a giant of Afrobeats and an artist we’re delighted to be able to bring to Liverpool this summer. As well as being a fantastic performer, his commitment to promoting the abundance of positivity coming out of Africa and championing of young talent from the continent also chimes perfectly with our ethos as a festival.”

“…with Fulu Miziki, it was a no brainer to book them for this summer after forces outside of their control meant they missed out at our last festival before the fallow year. They’re a sight to behold on stage and I can promise Liverpool that they’ll be worth the wait!”

“I first met Fatou at Oyé when she was performing as part of the legendary Oumou Sangare’s band way back in the early days of the festival. She handed me a CD and told me she was launching a solo career. You could tell back then she was destined for big things and we booked her in 2011 for one of her first UK solo shows. It’s amazing to see how far she’s come since then and to be able to bring her back as a headliner this year.”

The UK’s biggest celebration of African and Caribbean music and culture makes its return to Liverpool on 20th and 21st June this summer, following a fallow year in 2025 due to rising infrastructure costs, changing legislation, and the increasingly difficult challenge of keeping the event free.
The organisers of the ‘jewel in Liverpool’s festival crown’ are committed to making it as affordable as possible for its audience, with low ticket prices and children under 12 receiving free entry to the event (with a paying adult).
The Africa Oyé festival began back in 1992 as a series of gigs in Liverpool city centre, originally coming out of the monthly “Club Corinto” nights which were produced by the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign. Its growth over the last 33 years has seen the festival take place in multiple locations including Birkenhead Park, Princes Park, and Concert Square. Africa Oyé  has taken place in the picturesque surroundings of Sefton Park since 2002.
This year’s celebration will be the first ticketed Oyé in Sefton Park in the festival’s history, and as ever, the event will be an eclectic mix of international live acts, emerging talent, community performances, family friendly workshops, DJs, world cuisine, arts & crafts and much more.

Festival tickets are on sale now via http://www.ticketquarter and www.africaoye.com.

About Africa Oyé
Africa Oyé is the UK’s biggest celebration of African music and culture. Beginning in 1992 as a series of small gigs in Liverpool’s city centre, the event has gone from strength to strength, moving to its present Sefton Park home in 2002 to cope with demand.
With too many negative representations of Africa entrenched in images of war, disease, poverty and famine, Oyé seeks to redress the balance and highlight the fantastic range of cultures, foods, music and artists that make this great continent one of the most vibrant and inspiring in the world.
“This isn’t just the largest festival of African and Caribbean music in Britain, it’s the best” – The Sunday Times
The festival is a truly diverse and international event that harnesses the spirit of multiculturalism. It has played host to artists from nations right across Africa and also programmes music from The Caribbean, South America and the wider Diaspora, as well as main stage slots for emerging musicians, DJs and community performances.
But Africa Oyé is about more than music. Over 90 stalls selling the best food, drink, arts and crafts and fashion from Africa and beyond make up the vibrant and eclectic Oyé Village - which also includes a brand new Family Zone for ‘26, the returning Oyé Active Zone and our Trenchtown and Freetown DJ stage.

The 2026 Festival: A New Era
The next Africa Oyé festival will take place on 20th and 21st June 2026 in its Grade 1-listed, 200 acre home of Sefton Park – the largest open space in Liverpool.
For over 30 years Oyé has welcomed people from every demographic to the festival each year, to enjoy incredible live music and and DJs from across Africa, the Caribbean and the Diaspora, as well as the famed Oyé ambience.
Oyé celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 2022, and in 2024 enjoyed its busiest ever festival, attracting over 80,000 people. In 2026, with rising costs, changes in legislation, and the charity’s ongoing desire to ensure a safe event for all, Oyé will be fenced and ticketed for the first time. Oyé will continue to provide a welcoming atmosphere as the festival begins this new chapter of an incredible journey.

For more information, please visit http://www.africaoye.com.