Here are the 11 best African festivals for music lovers to add to their itineraries, or even build their African trip around.
Whatever time of year you’re planning on travelling in Africa, people are making music and lots of it. Festivals spring up like sonic oases giving artists platforms to be heard and music lovers an occasion to dance to hundreds of different rhythms and beats.
Festivals in Africa are flavoured with a distinct sense of adventure, some more of an epic undertaking than others, but all promising a kaleidoscope of sound, sights and cultures.
East Africa’s biggest music festival is held in February each year in the old forts, amphitheatres, and historic buildings of Stone Town, Zanzibar.
Meaning “Sounds of Wisdom”, Sauti za Busara is East Africa’s premier music festival, takes place each February in Zanzibar’s historic Stone Town.
Known for its vibrant atmosphere and diverse lineup, the festival has, over 20 years, featured more than 460 bands from 60+ countries, showcasing genres like Taarab, Jazz, Bongo Fleva, Afrobeats, Hip-Hop, and Electronica.
Rated by BBC World Service as “One of Africa’s best and most respected music events,” it provides a platform for African and diaspora talent, promoting unity, peace, and social change.
Since its inception in 2004, Sauti za Busara has drawn over 360,000 attendees, fostering connections and unforgettable memories through the power of live music.
This is Zanzibar at its most vibrant, revelling in an exotic marriage of historic architecture and contemporary music congregating audiences from all corners of the globe keen to get together and let the music work its magic.
You’ll meet plenty of happy, sun-kissed travellers, explorers and locals partying under hot African skies. Treat your ears to a tapestry of sounds while your eyes lap up the exotic setting.
This is a festival that’ll carve out a special place in your soul.
Sauti za Busara Festival: February
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The Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF) is more than an event—it’s Cape Town’s heartbeat, expressed through the rhythms of jazz. It is also the 4th largest jazz festival in the world and the largest on the African continent.
Since 2000, CTIJF has become known as "Africa’s Grandest Gathering," bringing world-class musicians and emerging talent together across four stages, each showcasing jazz’s evolution.
With a free community concert in Greenmarket Square to kick off the festivities, the city transforms into a stage where everyone shares in the joy of music.
The festival also offers masterclasses and workshops, nurturing new talent and honouring jazz’s legacy.
CTIJF unites generations, blending tradition and innovation in a celebration of jazz
Take a cue from the Jazz hungry locals who wait with itchy index fingers to nab passes to “Africa’s Grandest Gathering.” This is a stellar line-up of today’s artists, reminding us where the genre came from and, excitingly, where it’s headed as the 2-day event takes you through every imaginable corridor of jazz. If you like jazz you owe it to yourself to let this festival break it down for you if you love jazz, then attending the Cape Town Jazz Festival is non-negotiable. Tickets sell out fast so put this one in your diary.
Note: With such enthusiastic demand counterfeit tickets have crept into circulation, if you’re buying tickets from anyone other than a reputable source, make sure they’re genuine articles.
Visit the Cape Town Jazz Festival website for more detailed info about what's cooking.
African Budget Safaris lets you customise your Cape Town safari which will let you get the most out of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
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AfrikaBurn is an official Burning Man regional event set in the arid semi-desert of the Northern Cape province.
It’s a place where anything goes as long as it’s within the very lax bounds of the festival's principles including the virtues of gifting; self-reliance; self-expression; communal effort; leaving no trace and participation.
This gives birth to a self-sufficient, cashless and radically expressive community congregating in a temporary centre called Tankwa Town to unabashedly celebrate pure expression in all its colour, attitude, and liberation.
AfrikaBurn is an experience. From self-reliance to self-expression, and probably some level of self-discovery. You’ll return with a thousand-yard stare and reflective pause in your gait.
Community, inclusion, and participation are what drive the festival, the more you put in the more you’ll get out. Days are timeless excursions and interactions through the community while nights are centred around the burns which see towering, painstakingly-created pieces of art set ablaze to the conviviality of everyone.
With very little formal structure the event relies on you to be the audience as well as the show. However far-out and outlandish you think your ideas, art or costumes are, they’ll be tame, so let your imagination run absolutely wild, you’ll be glad you did.
As AfrikaBurn relies on self-sufficiency it’s worth making sure you’re au fait with their “what to bring to AfrikaBurn” guidelines available on their website.
This is a highly recommended festival for adventurous, nonconformist and creative souls.
Visit the AfrikaBurn Website for exact dates, ticket sales, and more.
Located in the Tankwa Karoo, AfrikaBurn combines well with any of our affordable South Africa Tours.
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The Harare International Festival of the Arts is a stalwart of African music festivals, surviving and thriving from 1999 despite the challenges faced by Zimbabwe.
At HIFA’s core is a spirit of pride, energy, and creativity as it continues to push boundaries, defy stereotypes and revel in the celebration of the arts. Held over 6 days in April/May each year. This is one of Africa’s largest festivals encompassing theatre, music, dance, fine art, and spoken word.
The festival attracts a stellar line-up of artists stretching across Afrobeat, funk, jazz, soul, opera, classical music, theatre, and dance, with plenty of collaboration with local performers.
HIFA doesn’t receive the press coverage it should, thanks to a political blanket that limits news broadcast out of Zimbabwe, but artists and audiences alike revere it.
Go celebrate a side of Zimbabwe that flies in the face of preconceptions and gives Zimbabweans the opportunity to take part in an outstanding community initiative that breaks down barriers.
Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) Website will give you more information about this Zimbabwean festival.
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Swaziland (Eswatini) punches well above its geographic weight when it comes to both music festivals and safari experiences.
The southern hemisphere’s smallest country throws the 20,000-strong MTN Bushfire Festival every May in the magical, lush surroundings of the Ezulwini Valley.
CNN lists the 3-day cultural extravagance as one of the "Seven African Music Festivals You Really Have To See."
They’ve got a good point, Bushfire is an oasis of freedom in a repressive kingdom, reminiscent of Woodstock in its liberal attitude, attracting eclectic music lovers, rather than party animals.
The Best Eswatini Festivals looks at MTN Bushfire Festival and more.
MTN Bushfire wants you to “bring your fire” to the festival: bring you energy, enthusiasm, happiness and togetherness.
It’s a cry that gets answered by a spectacular crowd of diverse individuals ready to have a ridiculously good time and participate in a collective event for positive change.
Profits from the festival go to supporting local charities so you get some feel-good to go with your good times. Put this one on your list of African Festivals and bring your fire!
Visit the MTN Bushfire website to find out more about this special festival.
From Hlane Royal National Park and Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary Eswatini is a surprising and wonderful destination.
Visit our free guide to the Kingdom of Eswatini and learn about the magic of this underrated gem.
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Held in the Atlantic seaside town of Essouria in Morocco, the Gnaoua World Music Festival emerged in the late 90s to preserve and promote the ancient Gnaoua music and tradition.
The festival is touted as a laboratory of musical fusion attracting an imagination-stretching spectrum of musicians and fans. The crowd numbers in the hundreds of thousands for the 4-day event held during June each year.
Gnaoua music is a mixture of African, Berber, and Arabic religious songs and rhythms; it is both a prayer and a celebration of life combining music and acrobatic dancing.
This music festival is proudly bold and because it takes risks and challenges its audience it attracts audacious musicians from all over the world.
The Gnaoua World Music Festival features jazz, pop, rock, hip-hop and contemporary world music fused with Gnaoua music.
If you want to expand your musical horizons pen this festival into your calendar.
Find out more on the Gnaoua World Music Festival website
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This is the daddy of South African music festivals, Loud, tenacious and packed full of big, quality acts giving festivalgoers stiff necks since 1994.
Each August 20 000 die-hard fans make the trek to Northam for Oppikoppi, a pilgrimage to live music and music is the absolute core of this festival.
Music is first and last here, you’ll come to hear big names and end up discovering a bunch of new acts and artists in the process, you'll also party like an animal.
It’s dusty, hot and has a camp area affectionately referred to as Mordor, none of which is a sufficient deterrent to the scores of fans that return year in, year out.
The festival is that good. Sure you’ll cough up dust weeks later but it’ll be to the recollection of the full-blown party that was your Oppikoppi experience, there's merit in the saying, “In dust we trust.”
Book the ticket, and take the ride.
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Lake of Stars pulses every September in the warm heart of Africa.
Cancelled for a few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2024 saw the Lake of Stars Festival return for the first time since 2020. Set on the palmed shores of one of Africa’s largest lakes, this is essentially a 3-day beach party with an awesome live soundtrack.
Attracting crowds to the party-in-paradise since 2003. The project uses cultural tourism to generate revenue and exposure for Malawi. Lake of Stars is an intimate festival with attendees numbering under 5000 for the event.
Malawi has an incredible music tradition written about in our blog Malawi Culture & Music and the Lake of Stars Festival takes you to the Warm Heart of Africa.
Lake Malawi is a mind-blowing setting for a music festival, couple that with the renowned warm, friendly locals, beautiful weather, laid-back atmosphere, real toilets, international flair, and an eclectic mix of musicians with a small, intimate crowd and you’ve got yourself a slice of aural paradise.
Lake of Stars also works as a superb focal point for travel in Malawi, it may, however, taint future festivals for you because they don’t get much more idyllic than this.
Visit the Lake of Stars website for up-to-date information, dates, and ticket sales.
African Budget Safaris offers a number of excellent safaris to Malawi. You can read our free Malawi Guide here, or check out the tours below.
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Rocking the Daisies kicks off South Africa’s music festival season with its eco-friendly ethos and hard-rocking line-ups.
Every October the festival hosts a sell-out crowd of over 15,000 revellers keen to party like there’s no tomorrow…for 3-days.
A slew of international acts have headlined the main stage over the years including heavyweights like Band of Skulls, Alt-J, Bloc Party and The Hives, while the electro tent charges like a freight train into the wee hours.
Daisies is remarkable for all the right reasons.
It’s got incredible gourmet food, well-maintained amenities, a tread-lightly philosophy, a hip crowd, great line-ups and a hard-working team that globe-trot on reconnaissance missions to continually push Rocking the Daisies to the forefront of conscientious global music festivals.
The result is a festival that sells out well ahead of time and consistently returns smiles and glorious times. Book this one early!
For more info visit the Rocking the Daisies website.
Located in Darling not far from the Cape Winelands, Rocking the Daisies is a great festival to add during, before, or after a Cape Town safari.
Read our free Cape Town Guide to find out what else Cape Town has to offer.
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Trance parties have found a spiritual home in the Western Cape of South Africa, a lifestyle lending itself to outdoor parties sees Vortex putting on several events each year but their multi-day December party tends to pack the biggest punch.
Vortex pulls DJs from all over the world eager to play in front of a trance-worshipping crowd.
A riverside location means serene natural surroundings are a short stroll away if you need some respite from the 7-day adventure or fancy some exploration beyond the dance floor.
Visit the Vortex website for more in-depth information.
You should experience at least one summer outdoor trance party, and Vortex is entirely accessible with an easy-going crowd, a beautiful location, radical outdoor décor, big sound and a star-studded DJ line-up.
It’s a feast for your eyes, ears and stomping feet. Go with an open mind and a chilled attitude and you’ll have a blast.
A few hours' drive from Cape Town, why not add a Big 5 Safari Near Cape Town?
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Since its debut in 2010, the Smoking Dragon Festival has brought a unique and inclusive festival experience to the northern Drakensberg.
Known for live music, electronic beats, graffiti art, outdoor sculptures, and even an open-air cinema, as a New Year festival it offers something for everyone. Special “women-fronted” nights and a Queer-friendly zone celebrate diversity.
Set at Amphitheatre Backpackers eco-lodge, the venue’s stunning mountainous backdrop adds to the magic, with two dams, a river, and countless outdoor activities like hiking, ziplining, and horseback riding.
Conveniently located between Johannesburg and Durban, Smoking Dragon invites all to join in its end-of-year birthday celebration—expect a party like no other!
Visit the Smoking Dragon website for more information about this charming festival.
Smoking Dragon is one of those rare finds, a small intimate festival that attracts easygoing and alternative people. Perfect for both fun-seeking travellers and families, the setting and abundance of nearby activities make Smoking Dragon a rare find.
The Drakensberg Mountains are one of South Africa's hidden treasures. Close to both Lesotho and Eswatini, safaris to the Drakensberg take in multiple cultures across varying landscapes and can even include Big 5 safaris to Kruger National Park or Addo.
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Have fun exploring Africa through its music festivals. We'd love to hear about your experiences below.
Chat with one of our seasoned African travel pros for help planning your travels around festivals and events across Africa.
First published in 2014, this post was updated in November 2024.
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