Four women's voices lit up WOMEX 2026 in Las Palmas

WOMEX — the Worldwide Music Expo, the largest professional gathering in world music — held its 32nd edition from 21 to 25 October 2026 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, around the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, facing the Atlantic. More than 2,500 professionals from some 90 countries: a trade fair, conferences, films and showcase concerts over five days. And when the delegates tell the story of their week, four names keep coming back with the same emotion: four women, four voices, four continents.

Luzmila Carpio, the crown of the edition

Bolivia's Luzmila Carpio received the WOMEX 26 Artist Award, the edition's highest honour, at the ceremony on 25 October. A Quechua singer born in Qala Qala, on the Bolivian Altiplano, she has carried the songs of her people and melodies inspired by Andean birds for six decades, with an art that has never stopped evolving. More than 25 albums mark this extraordinary journey — including Inti Watana – El Retorno del Sol (2023) — along with collaborations with Miriam Makeba, Cesária Évora and Susana Baca, and a lifelong commitment to the rights of Indigenous peoples, women and the environment. A living legend, crowned by her peers.

Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, the griot of Mali

Another voice, another emotion: Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, the griot singer of Mali. Daughter of Kassé Mady Diabaté, the "golden voice of Mali" who passed away in 2018, she sings with Trio Da Kali, alongside balafon player Lassana Diabaté and ngoni player Madou Kouyaté. Her album Toumaro, recorded with her father and released in October 2025, reached number one on the Transglobal World Music Chart: a farewell in music, a heritage passed from father to daughter, and one of the year's great shocks of beauty for world music professionals — who met her again in Las Palmas with stars in their eyes.

Carmen Souza, the Lusophone jazz of Cabo Verde

Selected by the jury from more than a thousand submissions, Carmen Souza presented her official showcase before professionals from all over the world. The Cabo Verdean and Portuguese singer defends Port'Inglês, an album telling the untold stories of the British presence in Cabo Verde, between morna, funaná and jazz — that Lusophone signature, sensual and erudite, which makes her one of the most singular voices on today's scene. Her artist page is waiting for you on Festival TV.

Aizhan Sultan, the voice of the steppes

The professionals' fourth favourite: Aizhan Sultan, a Kazakh singer and composer based in Finland, also in official showcase. Throat singing, the shanqobyz jaw harp, the sung poetry of the steppes (tolgau, terme): her universe draws on the shamanic sources of Central Asia to reinvent them, between tradition and research — she is also a doctoral researcher at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. A discovery that left its mark.

And in the aisles: One World Records

WOMEX is also played out in the aisles, where meetings and signings happen. Carolina Vallejo was at home there: at the helm of One World Records — the label behind Hawa & Kassé Mady Diabaté's Toumaro and Trio Da Kali's Bagola, two albums she produced and post-produced — she moved from meeting to meeting, from her friends Oliver and Mito to Bill Bragin, a leading figure of American stages. Her posts from the week tell the story of a label head in full action, while other delegates were still remembering past editions, Abu Dhabi and Herbie Hancock. At closing time, the thanks voiced by the professionals on site named her and her label: proof that in Las Palmas, One World Records was part of the landscape.

Four women's voices, a rising label, a global market reinventing itself: WOMEX 2026 set the tone. Festival TV keeps following these artists — and keeps telling you, edition after edition, the story of the planet's festivals and celebrations.

Based on posts by Carolina Vallejo and Willi Klopottek, professionals attending in Las Palmas, and official WOMEX information (womex.com).