The Village des Nuits d’Afrique will welcome you today from 3 p.m. with an Afrohouse and Kurduro dance workshop with Rama MB!
Not to be missed, the entertainment at the Cabaret des Nuits d’Afrique: The Gumboot Dance with Sipho Ndella, the traditions of the Kora with Noumoucounda Cissoko and Tour d’Afrique in afro-urban dances with Djamboola.
Let yourself be led by the intoxicating performances on the outdoor stages of Loto-Québec at the Esplanade Tranquille and TD at the Parterre du Quartier des spectacles with Pablo José & Vallenato In Canada, Bastin Band, Richy Jay, Taafé Fanga, Lorraine Klaasen, the DJ set by Philipe Fehmiu and Admiral T.
New for this 40th edition, the Festival will take over rue Sainte-Catherine. Giant screen, retrospectives, sharing of memories, activities and walks with Kalabanté and spectacular projections!
COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF OUTDOOR PROGRAMMING (WORKSHOPS, EVENTS, CONCERTS, DJ SETS)
LOTO-QUÉBEC SCENE
PABLO JOSÉ & A VALLENATO IN CANADA COLOMBIA – QC July 17, 2026 • 3:30 p.m. Loto-Québec StageThe astonishing accordion of Pablo José resonates the soul of the vallenato of the Colombian Caribbean coast. He serenades, entertains, makes people dance and revives memories. The caja and guacharaca, which support the accordion in a refined way, exploit the entire range of emotions, transforming each performance into a moment of sharing and warmth.
BASTIN BAND ALGERIA – QC July 17, 2026 • 5 p.m. Scène Loto-Québec Former members, each on their own, of Babylone, El Dey and Freeklane – three emblematic groups of the new Algerian scene of the early 2000s – Ramzi (guitar), Fadi (keyboards) and Yacine (drums) have pooled their experience to form a “super-group that shakes up Montreal” (Le Devoir, 2025), joining forces with Zaki (derbouka), Yacine (bass), Khalil (percussion) and Adel (vocals). Bronze Syli of world music 2026, Bastin Band shakes the stage with its convulsive associations of raï, funk, soul, pop-rock and North African rhythms like chaâbi and diwane.
TAAFÉ FANGA WEST AFRICA – QC July 17, 2026 • 7 p.m. Loto-Québec Stage “See the music and hear the movement”. This is how Estelle Lavoie, co-founder of the group, summarizes Taafé Fanga’s approach. Energetic dance movements, muscular percussion, unfailing endurance: so much so that we no longer know where to turn, for our greatest pleasure! Kora, balafon, djembe, doundouns, krin and sabar interact with frenetic and expressive dances. Winner of the first edition of the Syli d’Or de la Musique du Monde in 2007, Taafé Fanga’s shows are testimony to the passion that the members of the group maintain for the rhythms of West Africa.
TD SCENE
RICHY JAY HAITI – QC July 17, 2026 • 6 p.m. TD StageSurrounded by his accomplice musicians, Ricky Jay displays contagious energy. Creole, French, English and Spanish come together on kompa and zouk melodies, bathed in afro-pop, reggaeton and dancehall, meeting points between the rhythms of his Caribbean origins and his heartbeat for Quebec. His 6th album, Caribbean Love, like a summer evening by the water, is a lascivious and smiling invitation to indulge in love, communion and dance!
LORRAINE KLAASEN SOUTH AFRICA – ONT July 17, 2026 • 8:15 p.m. TD Scene “She can do everything” (The Gazette, 2024). Lorraine Klaasen is part of the history of Nuits d’Afrique. She was already at the event from the very beginning and she is coming back for this 40th edition of the Festival! She gets her talent and charisma from her mother, the famous Thandie Klaasen. Her confidence has everything to do with the legends she rubbed shoulders with, like Nelson Mandela or Miriam Makeba. She owes her internationally acclaimed career to herself, to her work, to her high standards and to her desire to allow the public to feel each of her words, even if they do not know the language.
MAJOR EVENTS
ADMIRAL T GUADELOUPE July 17, 2026 • 10 p.m. Since 2014, he has performed several times as part of the Nuits d’Afrique international festival, each time amazed by the receptivity, love and diversity of the event’s audience, of which he has become one of the darlings. His presence to celebrate the 40th anniversary was therefore self-evident! In three decades, Admiral T has become the standard-bearer of West Indian reggae-dancehall. “A true phenomenon of popular culture (…) one of the rare superstars from the “Créolophonie”” (La Presse, 2014).
DJ TROPICAL ESCAPESEvery evening, DJs will provide festive and invigorating interludes with panache between the last late-night concerts, broadcasting for the greatest pleasure of all, the most popular hits in the history of world music.
VOICES OF THE WORLD Presented by RADIO-CANADASABOR 19 (Latin America – Qc) Friday July 17 / Club Balattou – 8:30 p.m. The ultimate objective of this group of Latin music enthusiasts is to make the crowds dance! Impossible to resist their wild salsa and cumbia that you would think came straight from a Havana cabaret. Deftly flying from covers to original compositions, the brass roars loudly while the percussion responds with enthusiasm. Sabor 19 offers a truly immersive experience, that of a cheerful and entertaining street party. Caliente!