Blankets & Wine has announced its return and 2026 season, with its first edition scheduled for Sunday, 7 June 2026, at Laureate Gardens, Moi International Sports Centre, Nairobi.
This will be followed by two other editions on September 6 and December 20 2026.
Launching with the June edition, Your Taste Lives Here is Blankets & Wine’s 2026 campaign and year-long cultural platform.
It was launched on 14 April 2026 in Nairobi at Hit Labzz during B&W’s inaugural Storytellers Lab, which convened media, tastemakers, and the festival’s creative teams.
Grounded in the idea that taste is an expression of identity, not luxury, the campaign builds on 17 years of community and will unfold across the festival’s 3 editions, starting in June.
Muthoni Ndonga, Founder and Creative Director, said of this edition.
“Every edition of Blankets and Wine begins with a question: what does it mean to gather well in this moment? 17 years of asking that question has taught us that the answer is never just about the lineup. It’s about the entire ecosystem, the music, the food, the energy, the people who show up and what they bring with them.”
Artists set to light up the main stage include Kenyan stars: Labdi, Mordecai (Dexx), Mejja, Serro, Mutoriah and Watendawili alongside Nigerian sensation Fave.
Here’s a list of all the artists expected to perform on the main stage:
- Labdi — Kenyan Afro-fusion vocalist weaving traditional Ohangla into a sound that feels both ancient and urgently now. Her voice is the bridge.
- Fave — One of the continent’s most-streamed artists — her Afrobeats-R&B blend is equally built for dancefloors and playlists. A Nigerian phenomenon making her Blankets & Wine debut.
- Mordecai (Dexx) — Singer, songwriter, and producer who moves between R&B and Afro-pop with total ownership — the productions are immaculate, the vocals make it feel effortless.
- Mejja — The undisputed king of Genge — over a decade of street-pop that makes you laugh out loud and feel deeply seen inside the same bar.
- Serro — An alternative soul voice building quietly and deliberately — R&B and East African texture held in careful, compelling tension.
- Mutoriah — A genre-defying producer-performer who commands rooms. A fixture on Kenya’s live circuit for good reason.
- Watendawili — Afro-roots ensemble that grounds the lineup in heritage — traditional in soul, contemporary in form. The festival’s past and future in one.
From Afro-fusion to Genge and a DJ roster pushing the frontier of East African electronic sound, each act showcasing at June B&W was chosen for the specificity of what their sound says about where African music stands in 2026.
The June 2026 edition marks a significant evolution for the Onja Onja Stage stage which will feature South Africa’s Goldmax alongside Kenya’s Hiribae, DJ IV, LA Dave, Suraj and Sir M.
Here’s a list of all the artists expected to perform on the Onja Onja stage, where African Electronic Music lives:
- Goldmax — A foundational figure in Durban’s Gqom scene — raw, high-energy, and precise. Blurs the line between the club and the street.
- Hiribae — EA Wave collective pioneer and architect of the #NuNairobi sound. His layered productions carry the DNA of his background as a trumpet player.
- DJ IV — Infectious energy and disciplined blending across House, Techno, and Amapiano — one of Nairobi’s most compelling electronic voices.
- LA Dave — Veteran of Kenya’s electronic movement. His deep Afro-House sets move with the patience and intention of someone who has been building this culture since before it had a name.
- Suraj — A visionary producer-DJ making contemporary electronic music steeped in traditional Kenyan cultural elements — the familiar made completely new.
- Sir M — Disciplined, fast-rising, and increasingly impossible to ignore — Sir M is becoming one of the region’s most watched DJs.
What began as the festival’s dedicated electronic and alternative music platform has grown into its own curatorial statement, with a DJ roster that reaches beyond East African electronic sounds into the broader sonic geography of the continent.
Audiences will get to sample Afro-house, Amapiano, Gqom and Afrobeats, among other genres that represent the intentionality of the Onja Onja stage.
Produced by GoodTimes Africa, Blankets & Wine now enters its 17th year, an iconic milestone that goes beyond longevity to stand as proof of concept.
Blankets & Wine was founded on a clear conviction: that African audiences deserve more than passive entertainment. It imagined a festival as a cultural standard-setter, a space where style, food, community and music exist in the same conversation.
Seventeen years on, that conviction has only grown sharper, continuing to shape an experience that reflects the evolving identity, creativity, and energy of the continent.
The Onja Onja Market will also return in 2026 as a curated hub for “Made-in-Kenya” products, spanning food, fashion and creative enterprise.
Michelle Njeri, Brand Manager, says, “The Onja Onja Market is where ‘Your Taste Lives Here’ becomes something you can touch, taste and take home. Every vendor is curated with the same intentionality as the lineup; these are the brands and makers who represent where Kenyan creativity is right now.”
Muthoni Ndonga adds, “Onja Onja has always been the home of the vibes at the festival. This evolution is about going deeper, giving the stage its own identity and the freedom to push the sound forward.”
Tickets
This year, the tickets for the June edition can be purchased with a lipa pole pole plan, allowing attendees to pay for tickets in instalments.
