ABOUT

Since its emergence from the former “Festival of Cultures” in 2022, the WATER & SOUND Festival has developed into a beacon of the global music scene in Europe and combines contemporary international music with art, water projects and dialogical formats relating to the global resource of water in the UNESCO World Heritage City of Augsburg.

Every summer, it presents current positions of global music between tradition and the present – from Afro-diasporic grooves and North African guitar sounds to experimental sound languages from Europe, trans-Mediterranean hybrid forms and diasporic pop designs, as well as musical productions developed especially for the festival.

Under the artistic direction of Girisha Fernando, WATER & SOUND is dedicated to annually changing water and music culture regions such as the Sahara/Sahel, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic region or global river landscapes and makes the relationship between people, music and water tangible. Concerts, performances and parades at locations such as the water towers at the Red Gate, the canals of the old town, the Kuhsee, the town hall square, the Annahof and the open-air stage always open up new perspectives on Augsburg as a city of water.

The diversity of Augsburg’s urban society is reflected both in the audience and on the stages, when international stars meet local scenes and post-migrant perspectives. A multi-layered supporting program with exhibitions, guided tours, art projects, panels and artist talks delves deeper into topics such as water ecology, colonial history, migration, urban development and sound.

Local cultural institutions, initiatives and associations contribute culinary, informative and artistic offerings; key partners include the UNESCO World Heritage Office and the University of Augsburg, which, together with the festival team, open up new spaces between art and science. In previous years, Fatoumata Diawara, Bombino, Yasmine Hamdan, Seun Kuti, Fanfare Ciocărlia, Dakhabrakha and Ibibio Sound Machine, among others, have performed on the stages.