Kaya: Wedbindé unveils the poster of its 13th edition and a workshop for pupils

Kaya (Burkina Faso), November 4, 2026. Two weeks before the opening, the Wedbindé Festival published on its official page the poster of its 13th edition, to be held from Thursday, November 19 to Saturday, November 21, 2026 in Kaya, capital of the Sanmatenga. Presented under the banner "ONG N.90450", the poster puts the flaming forge at the centre of the picture — the fire that, in Kaya, tells a thousand years of African metallurgy.

Today's announcement also carries a promise for the youth: an introductory workshop in performing arts and drawing will be organised for school pupils. Discovery, learning and expression — through the body, speech and drawing — to develop the learners' creativity and imagination, and to make art a tool of education and personal growth.

"The Alliance of Iron", the poster's theme

The poster of the 13th edition is placed under the theme "The Alliance of Iron: forging African unity through our ancestral knowledge and digital sovereignty". The edition's official website deploys it, more broadly, under the theme "Forging the Unity of the Sahel: ancestral knowledge, community solidarity and the sovereignty of peoples", with a programme announcing a dance competition between troupes from Burkina Faso's thirteen regions, training workshops in iron extraction techniques and the closing show "Échos de la forge".

The biennial rendezvous of the forge

Carried since 2001 by the Passaté Cultural Association ("what never ends", in Moorish), the Wedbindé — the forge, in Moorish — is the great biennial rendezvous of Burkina Faso's heritage: iron reduction demonstrations, safeguarding of the traditional blast furnaces preserved at the Kaya Furnace Museum, and a spotlight on the blacksmith, mediator and man of peace in society. The festival's full fact sheet is on Festival TV.