Le Guess Who? is a leading international festival, celebrated for presenting groundbreaking music in inspiring ways. Artists from all over the world offer new perspectives on what is possible in music, and collectively provide insight into the awe-inspiring diversity of human creativity.
From 5-8 November, Le Guess Who? celebrates its 20th Anniversary Edition in Utrecht, The Netherlands, and now reveals its guest curators and the initial line-up for 2026.
For the past 20 years, the festival has built one of the most vital platforms for artists from around the world, championing sounds that transcend borders, genres and expectations. At its core, the festival is a celebration of cultural exchange where traditional forms are reimagined, bold new experiments in sound find international audiences, and artists are invited not just to perform, but to reshape the conversation.
Guest Curators Le Guess Who? 2026
aja monet returns to Le Guess Who? after her acclaimed performance in 2024—which was considered a highlight of Arooj Aftab's curation. With her new album the color of rain, she returns both as a performer and curator. A surrealist blues poet, aja monet follows in the footsteps of a long tradition of poets dedicated to social movements for change. For Le Guess Who? 2026, she curates a program that explores themes of resistance, love and the inexhaustible quest for joy.
Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU, is a sound artist whose practice is grounded in the discourse of field recording, noise and sound art. At the festival, he presents WAI8, an eight-hour durational performance that examines time and attention through the practice of waiting as an active form of engagement. Through noise, silence, drones, rhythm, voice, and waveform, WAI8 explores how sound can stretch, fracture, loop, or dissolve linear time, establishing a framework for sustained listening and temporal immersion. Since its inception in 2023, it has evolved into an open format for solo and collaborative contributions. Its iteration at Le Guess Who? 2026 features nine performers, positioning waiting as a space where sound is allowed to breathe, decay and resonate over time.
Los Thuthanaka, founded by siblings Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton, bridges the past, present and future of the mighty Pakajaqui Nation—an Indigenous group from the Andes. Their music is a powerful blend of Andean rhythms, Aymara composition and psychedelic rock. For Le Guess Who? 2026, they curate a program featuring artists who explore Indigenous Andean culture and translate it into contemporary experimental, electronic and psychedelic forms.
Post-apocalyptic acid punk disco scuzzheads Tropical Fuck Storm return to Le Guess Who? for a guest curation that feels like a homecoming. When asked to select artists for this year's edition, they went, as they put it, "a little wild". They've curated a sonically diverse mix featuring longtime musical inspirations, friends and collaborators; artists that they've met on the road, and acts that they've been eager to see live.
First program additions
Among the extensive list of special performances at Le Guess Who? 2026 are maverick saxophonist, composer and producer Yasuaki Shimizu, blending saxophone experimentations, jazz fusion and ambient dub excursions; instrumental trio Dirty Three, known for the raw and emotional charge of their live performances; legendary outfit Ibex Band, who played a central role in defining the sound of 70s Ethiopian music, modernizing traditional rhythms and arrangements into a contemporary form; Maryam Saleh, a leading figure in Egypt's alternative music scene, infusing shaabi and folk styles with innovative techniques and fearless personality; Los Delfines del Amor, who balance Andean tradition with modernity, and evoke a festive atmosphere of glowing lights, saturated colors and constant motion; Khadija El Warzazia, who was the first woman to perform Gnawa music in public in Morocco, will perform alongside the multi-generational women's percussion ensemble Bnat el Houariyat; composer Low Jack in collaboration with vocal ensemble Voix des Outre-Mer, presents Lacrimosa, a contemporary requiem that reflects on loss, memory and mourning; long-running trio Harriet Tubman joining forces with vocalist and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow to present their collaborative album Electrical Field of Love, merging jazz, funk, psychedelia, doom metal, soul, dub and electronics with Muldrow's devotion to exploring Black music in all of its facets; Nakibembe Embaire Group, who create hypnotic and joyful music performed on the embaire, a giant Ugandan wooden xylophone played by six musicians at the same time; Ángeles Toledano, a rising star in the flamenco music scene, who weaves deeply rooted flamenco cante (song) with contemporary influences; Lillian Allen, a leading international performer of dub poetry with politically charged, reggae-infused lyrics of resistance, peace and transformation; and the experimental rock collective Water Damage, who—joined by various guests—return to the festival to present the extended performance Static Ecstatic.
24 HOUR DUB
One of several special programs being presented as part of this 20th Anniversary edition is 24 HOUR DUB: a 24-hour session of continuous dub sounds from 4PM on Saturday 7, November, through 4PM on Sunday 8, November, at Utrecht's KABUL à GoGo. The program brings together pioneers, poets, engineers, sound system architects and a new generation of bass explorers. The extensive lineup of special performances includes a.o. Aba Shanti-I, CARISTA, Greentea Selecta, Introspekt, Krackfree Soundsystem, Mad Professor, Mutabaruka, Scientist, Tash LC and Touching Bass DJs.
COSMOS
COSMOS is Le Guess Who?’s hybrid platform that highlights independent music scenes from around the world. Vibrant music communities from every corner of the map become COSMOS Embassies and share their stories—both online and offline—through mixtapes, films, live radio, conversations and performances. In 2026, COSMOS collaborates with NAKID (Osaka, JP), OCCII (Amsterdam, NL) and Tabanka Records (Cabo Verde, CV).
This year, COSMOS continues its partnership with Berlin-based community radio Refuge Worldwide. Together, we present sounds and stories from around the globe, hand-picked by local artists.
Tickets on sale Tuesday, 2 June, 11AM CEST
A very limited amount of 4-Day Festival Passes (only 25% remain), individual Day Passes and 24 HOUR DUB Passes go on sale on Tuesday, 2 June, at 11AM CEST via www.leguesswho.com/tickets.
