Queralt Lahoz, María Arnal, Bedouin Burger, Ammar 808, Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek and Tamkrest are part of the fifth edition of IWA Fest, which will be held in Melilla from September 19 to 26 with seven days of programming divided between the Foso del Hornabeque, UNED Melilla and the Victoria Grande Fort.
Melilla For a week it will once again become a meeting point for music, cultures and scenes from different shores of the Mediterranean. IWA Fest celebrates its fifth edition under the motto Connecting Europe & Africa and it does so with a program that mixes electronic music, roots music and contemporary proposals without losing sight of the city’s own border character. The festival will begin on Saturday, September 19 at the Hornabeque Pit with the presentation party of this edition and the performance of Pö, also maintaining its collaboration with Amlega, LGTBIAQ+ Association of Melilla.
The programming will continue on Wednesday the 23rd with Electroverdiales and on Thursday the 24th with Stuffed Cakeboth days at UNED Melilla. Two proposals that fit especially well into the line of the festival, interested in recovering materials from tradition to translate them into current languages.
Explore the root without turning it into something immobile
The bulk of the programming will arrive on Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26 at Victoria Grande Fort. The first of those nights will be headlined by Queralt Lahozan artist who has been working for some time in that field where flamenco, soul, hip hop and urban music can coexist without needing to ask permission. Its presence pretty well sums up one of the lines of IWA Fest: exploring the root without turning it into something immobile. next to her Ammar 808 will transfer the Tunisian musical tradition to the field of electronics, Derya Yildirim & Grup Simşek will take the sounds of Anatolia towards psychedelia and Tamkrest He will make his particular Tuareg universe sound with electric guitars.
On Saturday the 26th he will take over Bedouin Burgera Lebanese project formed by Zeid Hamdan and Lynn Adib, with a proposal built from electronics, Arabic melodies, psychedelia and tradition. It will also be Maria Arnalone of the voices that has best understood in recent years how to work with memory, tradition and experimentation without locking them in the past. Its presence once again places the voice and electronics at the center of a program designed to cross musical territories. The day will be completed with DJ Travella, Transatlântico Express and Induswhile Big Lio, Kostom, NayuOh Swallowx They will serve as resident DJs during the two main nights. IWA Fest It thus reaches its fifth edition with a program that once again uses Melilla as more than just a stage. The city is part of the festival’s own discourse. From verdiales to Tuareg music, from Anatolia to Lebanon, the different proposals draw a sound map for seven days in which borders serve to meet each other.
IWA Fest there is no need to invent a bridge between Europe and Africa. Melilla is already placed on it. For a week, the festival simply makes it sound.
The eentries for the different days of IWA Fest 2026 They are now available through iwafest.com and Tixxlab.
