After Dark at Womad

Jazz, Hip-hop, global club culture and Bristol's independent music scene will take over Neston Park for Womad.

Following a year away, demand for WOMAD 2026, runnng from 23-26 July, has been exceptional, with 2026 becoming one of the strongest-selling years in the festival’s history.

As WOMAD prepares to welcome audiences to its new home at Neston Park, Wiltshire, it has now unveiled its full evening and late-night programme for 2026, bringing together some of the most exciting artists, DJs and collectives shaping contemporary music today.

Far from winding down after the headline sets, the festival's new home at Neston Park will become a meeting point for contemporary jazz, hip hop, electronic music, carnival sounds and global club culture.

Leading the programme are Greentea Peng, Alfa Mist, Emma-Jean Thackray and corto.alto, artists at the forefront of a generation blurring the boundaries between jazz, soul, hip hop and electronic music.

They are joined across the weekend by Birmingham storyteller Kofi Stone, known for his warm lyricism and laid-back rap style, Belfast rapper Leo Miyagee, Palestinian trailblazer Tamer Nafar and Mumbai's groundbreaking collective Wild Wild Women, reflecting the increasingly global nature of contemporary hip hop and alternative music culture.

At the heart of WOMAD's late-night programme are four Bristol organisations helping shape some of the UK's most exciting independent music scenes.

Their takeovers bring a distinctly grassroots energy to Neston Park, spotlighting emerging DJs, community-led music culture and the next generation of selectors.

Saffron, the pioneering Bristol organisation championing women, non-binary and trans communities in music technology and electronic music, presents Chiedza, Ngaio and Anything But Becky, artists pushing representation and visibility in contemporary club culture. Independent Bristol venue Jam Jar brings Volta45, Santa Leticia and Miss Mash b2b Ru Robinson, whose selections move effortlessly between jazz, percussion-led sounds and global rhythms.

Joining them are Twende and VP Productions, two collectives renowned for building communities through music. Twende, whose name translates as "let's go" in Swahili, has grown from grassroots fundraising parties into a platform connecting artists and audiences from across the UK, Mali, Bangladesh, Cuba and beyond.

Their takeover features Isabella, Alina, Barney Goodwin & Sherbersky, Alex & Sojebe and Joeti & Seydou. Meanwhile, VP Productions bring two decades of carnival expertise to WOMAD, with a high-energy programme spanning soca, dancehall, gqom and Caribbean club culture featuring Jus Now, Ruffnek Diskotek, Stormy J, DJ Andres Cervero and We Sell Hi-Fi.

Alongside these takeovers sits a bold late-night programme developed in partnership with NTS. Tanzania's DJ Travella brings the blistering energy of singeli, while Brazil's VHOOR channels baile funk and contemporary Brazilian club culture.

Elsewhere, livwutang, Coco María, Shannen SP, SNO, Cami Layé Okún and Cheb Mimo showcase sounds emerging from some of the world's most dynamic underground music scenes.

Electronic experimentation continues throughout the wider programme. Lebanese icon Yasmine Hamdan combines Arabic songwriting with electronic production, Ana Lua Caiano reimagines Portuguese folk traditions through contemporary rhythms, while Rust, Clara Serra López, Ganna and Shanghai Restoration Project with Tebza Majaivane create new musical languages that draw equally from tradition and innovation.

Paula Henderson, WOMAD Festival Programmer, said: “Together, these artists, DJs and collectives reflect WOMAD's ongoing commitment to musical discovery and cultural exchange while demonstrating how contemporary music is increasingly shaped by grassroots communities, independent scenes and artists unconstrained by genre boundaries. We are thrilled to have such a mix of sounds for attendees to delve into.”

From headline performances to packed late-night dancefloors, WOMAD after dark is billed as offering a glimpse into where global music culture is heading next.