Favorites from the Festival International Nuits d'Afrique
From July 8 to 20, 2025, Montreal will be pulsating to the rhythms of African, Caribbean, and Latin American music during the 39th edition of this must-see festival in the Quartier des Spectacles. For 13 days, more than 700 artists from some 30 countries will set the city's stages ablaze !You can enjoy six days of free outdoor concerts. The Festival and Quartier des Spectacles communications teams have joined forces to guide you through their favorites: memorable shows, must-see artists, gourmet experiences, a program designed to offer unique and vibrant moments.
Le village des nuits d'Afrique
From July 15 to 20, discover the music and cultures of Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America through a whirlwind of concerts and free activities for the whole family! Every day during the week from 3:00 p.m. and on weekends from 1:30 p.m., the village comes alive and invites you to participate in an open-air dance workshop. Throughout the day, concerts are presented alternately on the Parterre stage and on the Esplanade Tranquille stage.
Between cultural and participatory activities, at the CABARET NUITS D'AFRIQUE or the VILLAGE DES ENFANTS, stop by the PROMENADE DES SAVEURS to sample exotic dishes from various countries and quench your thirst at one of the refreshment stands. To complete your experience, stroll through the legendary MARCHÉ TOMBOUCTOU, which is brimming with exclusive products.
July 15 at 8:15 p.m.
Stage TD at the Parterre - FREE
For this first evening on the Stage TD at the Parterre, discover Bab L'Buz! Passionate about freedom and outraged by injustice, Moroccan Yousra Mansour and French Brice Bottin propel the amplified sounds of their guembris and aouichas far and wide, as if to make themselves heard. Drawing on all the fervor of psychedelic rock, they take Gnawa trances, Amazigh songs, and Chaabi polyrhythms to a new dimension.
July 16 at 7 p.m.
Stage Loto-Québec on the Esplanade Tranquille - FREE
Gladys Samba, the charismatic, outspoken leader with the infectious laugh of this extraordinary Afro-feminist group, acclaimed by audiences and media around the world, defends women's place in society with such fervor and conviction that she uses pots and pans as percussion instruments. What a message! Combining tender Bantu lullabies, wise precepts from Congolese matriarchy, ancestral songs punctuated by hip hop and fast, syncopated electro rhythms concocted by producer Rrobin, the music of Mamans du Congo leaves no one indifferent.
July 18 at 10 p.m.
Stage TD at the Parterre - FREE
Each visit to Montreal by six-time Grammy Award nominee Femi Kuti & The Positive Force is a crowd-pleasing event. With more than three decades, a dozen albums, and thousands of concerts under his belt, Femi proudly continues the work of his father, the legendary Fela, tirelessly defending the Afrobeat he created on the international stage. A powerful display of brass and percussion, rich, energetic, hypnotic, urban, and carrying a message of peace, unity, and resistance, Afrobeat combines funk and jazz with traditional Yoruba rhythms.
July 18 at 10 p.m.
Société des arts technologiques (SAT)
Three powerful personalities will rock the SAT Dome in an immersive and intense show combining sound, emotion, and energy. Maya Kamaty, who was discovered at Les Nuits d'Afrique in 2019 and has come a long way since then. Uninhibited, she now asserts her fiery personality and stands up for her opinions. Molyness feeds off her contact with the audience. Unconventional and curious about everything, she finely blends classical music, gnawa and suburban rhythms in what she describes as melodic techno. G L O W Z I is an interdisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke. Using and relying on their curiosity as an apparatus to understand & (re)discover the multiple realms they engage with(in), the artist’s mediums of choice encompass plural art forms such as painting, graphic design, filmmaking, photography, and original music production.
July 20 at 5 p.m.
Stage Loto-Québec on the Esplanade Tranquille - FREE
Chaabi is the “jazz of the casbah.” Unlike classical music, it is not written down but passed down orally from master to master. It tells stories of friendship, love, and everyday concerns. Mandolin, banjo, violin, guitar, mandolin, piano, oud, derbouka, tar: since 2017, the twenty or so musicians and singers of the OCM have been performing with great enthusiasm and heartfelt emotion to bring to life the rich Arab and Kabyle folk heritage of Algeria.