Concerts and Music

Thursday, September 10

7:00 p.m.: Dramane Ouattara – dance class
8:30 p.m.: Dotcha / Adotey Akueson – dance class
9:30 p.m.: La Compagnie Ivoire Marionnettes – La Boule Bleue
10:30 p.m.: Innocent Yapi (CI) – Over a Cup of Tuareg Tea

Friday, September 11

5:30 p.m.: Éric Zongo – giant puppet show
5:30 p.m.: Dotcha – dance performance
6:00 p.m.: Cie AFUMA Togo – dance, stilts, and acrobatics
6:30 p.m.: La Compagnie Ivoire Marionnettes – La Boule Bleue
7:00 PM: Lezarticirque – acrobatic show
8:00 PM: Amson – concert
9:00 PM: Crazy Pony Show
9:30 PM: Petit Goro – Dogon blues from Mali
11:00 PM: Natty Jean – concert
12:30 AM: DJ Yojen – AfroHouse set
1:20 AM: Innocent Yapi – storytelling around the fire

Saturday, September 12

10:30 a.m.: Sylvie Mallard – storytelling
11:00 a.m.: Crazy Pony Show
11:30 a.m.: Éric Zongo, Dotcha, and Patrick Juvet Baka – giant puppets and mask parade
12:00 p.m.: Collectif Les Boutures – clown and circus performance about food consumption
1:00 p.m.: AFUMA Togo Company
2:00 PM: Crazy Pony Show
3:30 PM: SviTanok – Ukrainian dance
4:00 PM: Mali/Cape Verde Fashion Show
4:00 PM: La Compagnie Ivoire Marionnettes – during the fashion show
4:00 PM: Candela Viva – Colombian dance
5:00 PM: Dramane Ouattara – dance class
5:00 p.m.: Juggling performances, games, and audience interactions
6:00 p.m.: Compagnie Donsen – Kéné Kéné, Afro-contemporary dance and theater
7:00 p.m.: Waagal – concert
8:00 p.m.: Zappar – Le Peuple Lumière
9:00 p.m.: Dobet Gnahoré – concert
10:30 p.m.: Sylvie Mallard – storytelling
11:00 p.m.: Patrick Kabré – concert
12:45 a.m.: Innocent Yapi – storytelling around the fire

Sunday, September 13

10:30 a.m.: Dotcha, Patrick Juvet Baka, and Éric Zongo – giant puppets and Faux Lion mask parade – Ndongo Beye
11:00 a.m.: Capoeira Lausanne Association – demonstrations
11:30 a.m.: Rafa Belgini – belly dance
12:00 p.m.: Crazy Pony Show
12:30 p.m.: Kallpa Dance Company – Afro-Peruvian folk dances
1:00 PM: Inganzamarimbo Troupe – Drums of Burundi
2:00 PM: Christophe Erard & Keyvan Chemirani – concert
3:00 p.m.: Cie AFUMA Togo
3:30 p.m.: Bassekou Kouyaté & Amy Sacko – concert
5:00 p.m.: Kanazoé Orkestra – concert
5:00 p.m.: Rokia Traoré – intimate concert (canceled)

Get the full program

Natty Jean

Senegal

Friday at 11:00 p.m.

From Dakar’s hip-hop scenes to the warm beats of reggae, Natty Jean has crafted a sound that travels the world without losing touch with her roots. She cut her teeth in Senegal, immersed in rap and local music, before the swaying rhythms of reggae broadened her horizons. Her voice weaves together rap, reggae, and African influences in lyrics that are both socially conscious and uplifting. Following in the footsteps of artists such as Didier Awadi—who invited her to appear on his 2012 album *Ma Révolution*—Natty Jean bridges the gap between urban expression, the continent’s collective memory, and the forward-looking energy of music.

Bassekou Kouyaté & Amy Sacko

Mali

Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

Bassekou Kouyaté and Amy Sacko are one of the most iconic duos in Malian music. Together, they blend instrumental virtuosity with the vocal power of the griot tradition in a dialogue where the personal meets the universal. Bassekou Kouyaté is recognized worldwide as one of the great masters of the n’goni, a traditional West African lute. He has revitalized the instrument’s musical language by opening it up to blues and rock, and by collaborating with artists such as Ali Farka Touré and Paul McCartney. Often dubbed the “Tina Turner of Mali,” Amy Sacko possesses a passionate, expressive, and generous voice. In their joint projects, she brings Mandinka lyrics and traditions to life with a stage presence that transforms every song into a vivid narrative.

Dobet Gnahoré

Ivory Coast

Saturday at 9:00 p.m.

An Ivorian singer, dancer, composer, and percussionist born on June 17, 1982, Dobet Gnahoré turns the stage into a realm of freedom. Her powerful voice, physical intensity, and magnetic energy lend each of her performances a rare intensity. She blends traditional African rhythms with decidedly modern sounds, making the body, song, and percussion the three beats of a single heart. In 2010, she became one of the first artists from Côte d’Ivoire to receive a Grammy Award, crowning a career in which boldness constantly engages with tradition.

Little Goro

Mali

Friday at 9:30 p.m.

Petit Goro’s Dogon Blues is not merely a fleeting fusion, intended to ride a trend before fading away. It is an act of preservation, a cry in defense of the identity, memory, and values of the Dogon people. It is also a generous invitation to come together, share, and dance as one. “Desert blues” has established itself as one of the major pathways to discovering world music. Often associated with Tuareg artists from the Sahara and the Sahel, it has brought groups and musicians such as Tinariwen, Imarhan, and Mdou Moctar to prominence beyond the continent. Its roots engage in a dialogue with those of the American blues, in an age-old interplay of echoes, departures, and returns. Hailing from the Dogon people of central Mali, Petit Goro brings his voice to this vast movement while imbuing it with a unique flavor. He connects the beats of the Mississippi Delta to the rhythms, stories, and traditions of his people. His guitar thus becomes a bridge between continents, but above all, a living voice for a culture that refuses to fade away.

Kanazoé Orkestra

Burkina Faso / France

Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

Led by Seydou Diabaté, known as Kanazoé, a Burkinabé balafon virtuoso, Kanazoé Orkestra brings to life festive, rich, and deeply contemporary music. Based in Toulouse, this Franco-Burkinabé ensemble bridges Mandinka traditions with today’s urban rhythms. At the heart of this musical universe resonate the balafon, an iconic West African instrument, and the kamélé n’goni, a traditional pentatonic harp. Afrobeat, Afro-jazz, amapiano, Afro-trap, and contemporary grooves enrich this ancestral foundation. From this convergence emerges a vibrant fusion: music that dances with its roots while looking resolutely toward the future.

Christophe Erard & Keyvan Chemirani

Switzerland

Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Christophe Erard’s life is one of roads, strings, and encounters. A guitarist inspired by world music, he weaves together the sounds he has gathered throughout his travels and opens his music to the perspectives of others. At his side, Keyvan Chemirani makes the percussion speak with a finesse that transforms rhythm into a breath. On stage, their instruments seek each other out, respond to one another, and listen to one another. The concert becomes a moment of sensory connection: a dialogue of strings, drumheads, cultures, and shared memories.

Waagal

France

Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Waagal is the musical project of French multi-instrumentalist Erwann Texier-Harth. A native of Bordeaux and largely self-taught, he single-handedly crafts a soundscape where ancient instruments meet contemporary textures. Combining breath, skin, metal, and vibration, his music unfolds like an intimate ritual. Organic, hypnotic, and immersive, it takes the audience on a sensory journey where traditions are transformed without disappearing, and where each note seems to awaken a buried memory.

Amson

Senegal

Friday at 8:00 p.m.

Amson is a Senegalese singer-songwriter based in Switzerland. Since his early days in hip-hop in Dakar, he has developed a unique musical style, shaped by his African roots, his life experiences, and his perspective on the world. Singing in Wolof, French, and English, he skillfully blends West African sounds with hip-hop, reggae, jazz, and Afrobeat. Through his socially conscious and deeply human lyrics, Amson encourages sharing, dialogue between cultures, and hope. He is an authentic artist whose music resonates as deeply with the heart as it does with the conscience.

Patrick Kabré

Burkina Faso

Saturday at 11:00 p.m.

Don’t be fooled by appearances!
Behind that smile and radiant expression lies a volcanic energy that lies dormant and awakens at every concert.
Patrick Kabré delivers a sunny, unbridled brand of rock that breaks free from world music clichés.
Firmly rooted in the Mossi rhythms of Burkina Faso, he brings a unique and unparalleled sound to
today’s music scene, ranging from folk ballads that explore the meaning of life to funk-rock tracks with catchy choruses and Mossi electro-rock grooves.

Kabré’s incredibly powerful voice places him among the continent’s greatest songwriters and beyond, and his uncompromising lyrics establish him as one of West Africa’s leading emerging artists.

DJ Yojen

Switzerland

Friday, 12:30 a.m.

A house music enthusiast since the 1990s, DJ YOJEN cut his teeth as a resident DJ at the MGM Café and Paradox in Neuchâtel. A regular at clubs, after-work events, and major festivals, he has performed at venues as diverse as the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Fête des Vignerons, the Fête des Vendanges, and various beach clubs.

Versatile and driven by the joy of sharing, he moves seamlessly between deep house, melodic techno, funk, disco, and electronic sounds. For Yelen, he’ll unveil a vibrant AfroHouse set, blending organic rhythms, deep basslines, and captivating melodies.

Influenced in particular by Solomun, Maceo Plex, and Daft Punk, DJ YOJEN has only one goal: to get the crowd moving, bring people together, and make them dance. Because, for him, “life without music is hell.”

Rokia Traoré

Mali

Canceled

A Malian singer, singer-songwriter, and guitarist born in 1974, Rokia Traoré has a voice that is instantly recognizable: a voice as velvety as it is fiery, capable of whispering the most intimate thoughts and embracing the horizon. Her art blends Mandinka artistic traditions and contemporary Western influences with rare elegance. Through the subtlety of her compositions, the power of her stage presence, and the freedom of her songwriting, she has established herself as one of the leading figures in contemporary African music.