Lineup
Jesse Royal, Freshlyground, Zweierpasch, Jamaram, Son Con Ron, Iteka Drummers, Sound of the Earth, Afrobatic a.o.
When a Castle Square Becomes a Continent
There are festivals you travel to — and there are festivals that transform an entire town. The African Music Festival belongs to the second kind. Since 2001, Emmendingen, on the edge of the Black Forest, has turned into the unofficial European capital of African music for one weekend every summer: on the historic castle square, roots reggae from Kingston meets Afrobeat, Cuban son and Burundian drumming, while all around it a bazaar, a street parade, workshops and even a festival church service wind their way through the old town.
The 26th edition runs under the motto ”Music is the Key to Peace” — and here, that is no empty phrase but the festival’s founding idea. In 2026, the line-up delivers on it impressively: Saturday brings Jesse Royal, one of the defining voices of the Jamaican reggae revival, who puts the soulful core of the genre back on stage. Sunday follows with Freshlyground from South Africa — the band that recorded the World Cup hit ”Waka Waka” with Shakira. Add to that Munich reggae institution Jamaram, the German-French rap duo Zweierpasch and the Iteka Drummers with their giant drums from Burundi and Rwanda.
The audience has long been travelling in from Alsace, Switzerland and all over Germany. And yet the festival remains pleasantly manageable: no mega-arena, but a town festival of world stature, where you can stroll straight from the evening concert to the aftershow at the Irish pub. If you love reggae but also want to hear what it sounds like when it meets salsa, highlife and East African percussion, this is the place.
Text: Janika Takats
