Call for participation: Entanglements 2026 – a festival of exploratory music

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in experimental music in South Africa, with a new generation of artists making use of everything from custom made guitars and modular synths to hacked software and indigenous instrumentation to explore the limits of sonic expression.

At the same time, however, there are a lack of spaces where musicians pushing the edges can encounter each other and share their work with an audience. In response to this, SENSA will be launching an annual exploratory music festival in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The first edition will take place in late April 2026 and will feature a wide range of live performances as well as a day program consisting of talks, workshops, screenings, sound walks and more. You can expect to hear noise, drone, avant-classical and free jazz, as well as kankyō ongaku, musique concrète, electroacoustic music, acousmatics and forms of sonic experience wholly outside of classification.

This is where you come in. If you’re a musician or sound artist and you’d like to perform at Entanglements, drop us an email at hello AT sensa.org.za before 31 January 2026 expressing your interest. Be sure to include a couple of examples of your work. If you have a concept you’d like to explore, a workshop you’d like to host or anything else you’d like to contribute, let us know and we’ll see if we can make it happen.

The 2026 edition of Entanglements is itself an experiment: we’re doing this without funding, with a solid DIY ethos, and we thus welcome any offers of collaboration and support.

We look forward to hearing you.

The SENSA Team