The tide comes back to Bwejuu Beach for the sixth chapter of Soundscapes, the independent festival that gathers music, wellness and workshop communities on the shores of Zanzibar. Taking place January 21-26, 2027, there will be many reasons to escape the harsh European winter. This year, Zanzi evolves. For the first time in Soundscapes’ history, the festival will take place in January rather than June.
The festival brings together communities and collectives from across the globe, expanding its program and creating new ways for guests to immerse themselves together. Having pulled out all the stops to ensure that the soundtrack is as pristine as the beaches, Soundscapes has confirmed the talents of Agha, Andrey Pushkarev, Baloo, BanzaiXX, Bood, Brawther, Daddybisht, D.O.F Project (Daylomar & Omar Fayyad), DJ Senc, Dr Banana, Emir Fekih, Garrett David, Gazi, Hameed, Hamish & Toby, Hisham Zahran, HK, Hugo Martinez, Kieran Landwehr, Lori, Majid, Mozeez, Nesta, Nezar, Pokuman, Rashed Al Dhaen, Sam Bangura, Sam Gino, Schehvb, The Ghost (James Creed), Usif, Vinyl Mode, YokoO and Zeina.
To close out this very special edition of Soundscapes, there will be a showcase from none other than Giegling. Famed for their finely curated events, this one will be no different. Label mainstay Konstantin will be joined by Leafar Legov (live), Map.ache (live), Thomas Melchior, Vera, Woody, Mimi, Serenne and Zone+.
Among the artists joining Zanzi VI are the Zawose Queens, Leah and Pendo Zawose, granddaughter and daughter of the late Dr Hukwe Zawose, the most celebrated musicians Tanzania has produced. They sing in Kigogo, the language of the Wagogo people of the Dodoma region, over chizeze fiddle, ilimba thumb piano and ngoma drums.
For generations, the women of the Zawose family were kept from the spotlight. The Queens are the first to stand in it, and their 2024 debut Maisha, released on Real World Records, carried that music to an international audience. Their ngoma will sound on a site whose visual identity this year is built around the same word.
Joining them from East Africa are Cnote (Tanzania) and Priss (Kenya), part of a continuing effort to bring through DJs from the mainland and to programme African artists on African ground.
January in Zanzibar has become a season rather than a single week. Tribes Gathering, a collaboration between SlapFunk, Yoyaku, Half Baked and Why Not in Paje and now in its third year, gathers on the island in the days before Zanzi VI. Butik’s Zanzibar Gathering follows after it. Separate festivals, separate crews, one island. This year they move in step, a month in which one gathering carries into the next, so anyone travelling to Zanzibar can come once and find several. Soundscapes and Tribes are building that month together, for the artists who make the journey and for the island that hosts them.
This year’s visual identity translates Soundscapes’ story into a single, unbroken line. At its centre sits Ngoma, Swahili for drum, dance and celebration, a hand-painted circle read as drumhead, tide pool and gathering all at once.
Radiating outward is Mawimbi, Swahili for waves: one continuous ballpoint line inside which the festival’s five guiding beings (Kaskazi for the music program, Gombessa for wellness, Pweza for workshops, Kombe for hospitality and Karafuu for cuisine) appear and dissolve, each carrying a different offering, from wellness to cuisine. A refreshed palette, washed by salt and warmed by spice, pairs deep sea-night navy and teal with coral and gold accents, rooted in Zanzibar’s own language and material culture, a system built to grow, chapter by chapter, toward the festival itself.
Tickets for Soundscapes Zanzi VI are on sale now via soundscapes.me. A small collection of accommodation close to the festival, all within walking distance, has also been selected, with details and booking available through the same site. Those looking to join the team behind the festival can register their interest directly with Soundscapes.
Soundscapes has been assembled by friends scattered across ten countries. At its centre is a crew shaped by more than a decade of dancefloors between Bahrain and Zanzibar, places connected long before them by wind, water, trade, migration and music.
You can get your hands on tickets for Soundscapes via their website.
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