Independence Square, Accra · 04—06 December 2026
Rhythm Festival — three nights of live Ghanaian music
Highlife, hiplife, Afrobeats and palm-wine guitar on three stages across Accra. Twenty-six acts, one late room that does not close until the call to prayer, and a season pass that costs less than a night out in Osu.
04—06
Dec 2026
04—06
Dec 2026
04—06
Dec 2026
04—06
Dec 2026
04—06
Dec 2026
04—06
Dec 2026
04—06
Dec 2026
04—06
Dec 2026
About the festival
Three nights, three stages, one city that already knows the words
Rhythm has been putting Ghanaian musicians in front of Ghanaian audiences since 2014. The festival is the week of the year we stop touring other people's shows and build our own.
26
Acts across three nights
18
,000+
Tickets sold last December
12
Years putting on shows in Accra
Season pass · three nights
04 — 06 DEC
Line-up
Who is playing
Twenty-six acts over three nights. These six are the ones people will tell you about afterwards.
Kwabena Asare
Afro-jazz · bass
Efua Mensimah
Highlife · voice
Nii Lartey
Palm-wine · guitar
Serwaa Boateng
Amapiano · selector
Adjoa Nyarko
Gospel-soul · voice
Abena Owusu-Ansah
Afrobeat · alto sax
Schedule
Three nights, in order
Doors, set times and who closes each night. Times move by ten minutes at most — the Late Room is the only thing that ever runs long.
01 · Friday
04
December
Opening night — highlife and the old standards
The first night belongs to the songs everybody already knows. Two big bands, a horn section that has been together since 1998, and a crowd that sings the second verse without being asked.
Gates and food traders from 18:00
Kwabena Asare's nine-piece at 21:15
Efua Mensimah closes the Main Stage
02 · Saturday
05
December
The long day — three stages, no gaps
Everything is open. The Yard runs acoustic sets from two in the afternoon, the Main Stage takes over at seven, and the Late Room does not stop until the first taxis start moving again.
Palm-wine sessions in The Yard from 14:00
Main Stage from 19:00 with four acts
Serwaa Boateng in the Late Room until 04:00
03 · Sunday
06
December
Closing night — gospel, horns and the send-off
A shorter night on purpose: most of the room has work on Monday. A Teshie choir, an afrobeat horn section, and the whole crew back on stage at the end to say thank you.
Abena Owusu-Ansah's band in The Yard
Adjoa Nyarko and the choir at 20:30
Everyone on stage for the last twenty minutes
Tickets
Pick your pass
Prices are in cedis and include the levy. Mobile money, card or cash at the Adabraka office — nobody has ever paid more at the gate than they would have online.
Night pass
₵180
One night, any night, all three stages.
Includes
Entry to all three stages
Re-entry until 22:00
Pick your night at checkout
Mobile money or card
Season pass
₵420
All three nights, and the only way into the Late Room.
Includes
All three nights, all stages
Late Room entry on Saturday
Unlimited re-entry
Festival tote and printed programme
Priority queue after 20:00
Backstage
₵950
Everything above, plus the side of the stage.
Includes
Everything in the season pass
Side-of-stage viewing, Main Stage
Soundcheck access on Saturday
Two drinks a night at the crew bar
Limited to 60 passes
The people who make it possible
Last December
What it actually looks like
Nobody has ever booked a ticket off a poster. These are from the 2025 edition, shot by the crew who were working it.
Questions
Most asked questions
Everything people ring the office about, answered. If yours is not here, WhatsApp is the fastest way to reach a human.
What is Rhythm Festival?
Three nights of live Ghanaian music across three stages at Independence Square, Accra, run by Rhythm every December since 2014. Twenty-six acts this year, from highlife bands old enough to have played Independence to producers who have never released anything on physical media.
When and where is it?
04—06 December 2026. The Main Stage is at Independence Square, Accra, The Yard is the Arts Centre courtyard five minutes' walk away, and the Late Room is the basement under the old Ghana Airways building on High Street. One wristband covers all three.
Is it suitable for children?
Under-12s go free with a paying adult and there is a shaded family area beside The Yard until 20:00. After that the Main Stage gets loud and the Late Room is over-18 with ID, no exceptions.
How do I pay, and can I pay at the gate?
MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash, card, or cash at our Adabraka office. Gate tickets are sold on the night if we have not sold out — the price is the same, but the queue is not.
What happens if it rains?
The Main Stage and The Yard both have covered stages and partial cover for the crowd; the Late Room is indoors. We have never cancelled a night, and if we ever have to, every pass rolls to the next edition or refunds in full within seven days.
What can I bring in?
Yourself, a phone, a refillable bottle and a folding chair for The Yard. No glass, no professional cameras without a photo pass, no outside drinks. There are eleven food traders and four bars inside.
Journal
Reading between editions
Notes on the music, the money and the machinery. Written by the people who book it and build it.
Why highlife keeps coming back every ten years
The guitar band never actually went away — it just stopped being the thing anyone wrote about. A short history, from E.T. Mensah to the acts on this year's Friday bill.
Read it
How our ticketing actually works, and why it is cheap
No dynamic pricing, no booking fee bolted on at checkout, and a season pass that is deliberately less than three night passes. Here is what that costs us and why we do it anyway.
Read it
The forty people you never see on the bill
Riggers, drivers, medics, the two women who run the traders' yard. A festival is a logistics problem wearing a music festival's clothes.
Read it
04—06 December 2026
Three nights. Twenty-six acts. One wristband.
Independence Square, Accra. Season passes are on sale now and the Late Room sells out first, every year, without fail.
