Lineup
Twenty-two acts, and most of them live within an hour of the field.
Ninety-four per cent of this bill is Ghanaian. That is not a policy — it is what happens when you book the music you actually listen to.
The bill
Twelve announced, ten to come
Names go up in three drops between September and December. The full running order — who plays which night and at what hour — lands the week before the gates open.
Wanja Nuru
Poet & cultural worker
Tedo Maceo
Soul DJ & sonic curator
Zubi Mwathi
Spoken word & educator
Leila Folk
Indie folk fusion band
Aisha Kintu
Community healer
The Wilds
Live painters
Abena Sarpong
Highlife guitar & voice
Kofi Adjetey
Kologo & loop pedal
Naa Adjeley
Alté & production
Yaw Ntiamoah
Master drummer
Esi Ofori
Gospel brass, fourteen pieces
Kwabena Osei
Piano & spoken word
Still to be announced
Ten more names, including both Saturday headline slots and the whole of the Sunday afternoon circle. If you are holding a ticket you will hear before the site does.
Jan 15
Night one
Opens with the Ga drummers walking the crowd in from the road — no stage, no introduction, they simply arrive. Then brass until midnight: a fourteen-piece gospel band from Nungua who have never played outside a church, and a highlife set from players who were on these records the first time round.
Jan 16
Night two
The long one. Poetry at four while the light goes, an alté and drill block from seven, and then the decks until the generators are told to stop. This is the night the ridge fills — two thousand people, most of whom came up on the same three trotros.
Jan 17
Night three
Slower and much louder than it sounds. An acoustic circle at noon, the marketplace at its fullest, and a closing procession that leaves the field and walks down through the town — which is the only part of the weekend we have never once had to organise.
Playing here
How a name gets on this wall
There is no agent, no submission fee and no shortlist that was decided before anybody sent anything.
Who we book
Acts living and working in Ghana, at any point in a career. Half the 2027 bill has never played a festival before and a quarter of it has been playing longer than this festival has existed.
How to send us something
One link, one paragraph, to bookings@ridge.gh. No press kit, no biography, no genre. A phone recording of a rehearsal has got more people onto this bill than a mastered single ever has.
When we listen
March to June, and we answer everything — usually within a fortnight and always before the first drop goes up. About one submission in forty ends up on a stage.
What it pays
A flat fee by slot length rather than by name, published to every act before they say yes, and paid on the night in full. Travel and a meal for the whole band are on top of it.
Grab your ticket
Date
Fri–Sun, 15–17 January 2027
Gates
Daily from 2pm, music until late
Where
The old nursery, Aburi Ridge
Entry
GHS 180 a night · GHS 420 full pass
Two thousand tickets, and they have gone before Christmas every year since 2022. Nothing is sold on the gate.
Buy tickets