The Sunday headliner has been revealed for this June’s Africa Oyé Festival in Liverpool.
Fifteen years after her first UK festival performance at Africa Oyé, Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer Fatoumata Diawara is set to make a triumphant return to Sefton Park this summer.
Oyé is the UK’s biggest celebration of African and Caribbean music and culture and returns on 20th and 21st June as a ticketed event following a fallow year in 2025.
Diawara is a major figure in African music whose performances ‘tell the story’ of the continent. Singing in her mother tongue, Bambara, the Afrofuturist’s live shows make her audiences laugh, cry and above all, dance.
Having fled Mali at the age of 19 to write her own story, Fatoumata Diawara continues, at 43, to examine society’s flaws while celebrating her dual life as an artist and a mother. Through her singing and vibrant voice, Diawara addresses crucial subjects such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage – personal hardships that she transforms into a universal message of hope and resilience.
Artistic Director of Africa Oyé, Paul Duhaney said: “I first met Fatou at Oyé when she was performing as part of the legendary Oumou Sangre’s band way back in the early days of the festival. She handed me a CD and told me she was launching a solo career. You could tell back then she was destined for big things and we booked her in 2011 for one of her first UK solo shows. It’s amazing to see how far she’s come since then and to be able to bring her back as a headliner this year.”
At the 2019 Grammys she was nominated for Best World Music Album and has recently made history, becoming the first woman of colour to be given an Epiphone signature guitar. Guitar World described the news as “a milestone that not only honors her immense artistic contributions but also serves as a long-overdue nod to those who came before her and paved the way.”
The UK’s biggest celebration of African and Caribbean music and culture makes its return to Liverpool on 20th and 21st June this summer, with Nigerian Afrobeats star Patrotanking and Congolese eco-punks Fulu Miziki already announced for the event.
The organisers of the ‘jewel in Liverpool’s festival crown’ are committed to making it as affordable as possible for its audience, with Liverpool City Region dwellers currently able to buy tickets for just £11 – an Earlybird price freeze for locals.
Children under 12 receive free entry to the event (with a paying adult) and there is a discount when buying for groups of four people.
This year’s celebration – taking place on the 20th and 21st June 2026 – will as ever deliver an eclectic mix of international live acts, emerging talent, community performances, family friendly workshops, DJs, world cuisine, arts & crafts and much more.
Festival tickets are on sale now via africaoye.com.