Sunrise Reggae & Ska Festival 2026

Line-Up

Tiken Jah Fakoly, Patrice, Mal Elevé, Jah­coustix, I‑Fire, Unlim­it­ed Cul­ture, Lion’s Den Soundsys­tem, Skaos, Root­i­cal Radio, En Flecha Negra, Boom Cha­ka, Uno­jah a.m.o.

The Village, the Farmer and the Bass

The sto­ry of Sun­rise reads like a fes­ti­val fairy tale: launched in 2003 as a one-day sum­mer par­ty thrown by a vil­lage music club, expand­ed into a fes­ti­val in 2007 by Burten­bach broth­ers Christoph and Sascha Völpel – and today, at its 18th edi­tion, read­ers of Rid­dim mag­a­zine reg­u­lar­ly vote it among the three most pop­u­lar reg­gae fes­ti­vals in Europe. With 4,000 to 5,000 guests, Sun­rise has delib­er­ate­ly stayed small, and that is pre­cise­ly its mag­ic: around 120 helpers, most­ly friends and rel­a­tives, run the week­end, and many vis­i­tors are reg­u­lars who have been com­ing since the very begin­ning.

The secret pro­tag­o­nist is Farmer Heinz, who owns the fes­ti­val mead­ows. The Sun­day lit­ter-col­lect­ing cam­paign ”Respect Heinz Wiesen” is named in his hon­our – any­one hand­ing in a full rub­bish bag gets good­ies, and Heinz him­self signs auto­graphs at the waste sta­tion. No rub­bish deposit need­ed here.

Musi­cal­ly, the small fes­ti­val goes big in 2026: Thurs­day’s ”Fam­i­ly Ses­sion” warms things up before Tiken Jah Fakoly, the polit­i­cal voice of West African reg­gae, takes over the main stage on Fri­day, fol­lowed by Mal Élevé; Sat­ur­day’s pro­gram fea­tures Patrice. Add Bavar­i­an acts like Unlim­it­ed Cul­ture, the Dub­sta­tion cel­e­brat­ing sound sys­tem cul­ture, and the dance­hall tent run­ning until three in the morn­ing. Fur­ther acts include: Jah­coustix, I‑Fire, Skaos, El Fecha Negra and Lion’s Den Soundsys­tem. Camp­ing is includ­ed in the week­end tick­et (”Free & Green”), the Burten­bach swim­ming lake is a 15-minute walk away, chil­dren up to 12 get in free – and the vil­lage pizze­ria bakes its own Sun­rise reg­gae piz­za for the fes­ti­val week­end. New in 2026: a token sys­tem at the bars, so nobody has to wait long for their beer.

If you’re look­ing for reg­gae with­out the fes­ti­val-fac­to­ry feel, the Min­deltal offers what many fes­ti­vals mere­ly claim: a gen­uine fam­i­ly atmos­phere.

Sunrise Reggae & Ska Festival 2026

09.07.2026 – 13.07.2026

Min­deltal bei Burten­bach

Text: Jani­ka Takats

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