22. transVOCALE — European Festival for Song and World Music 2026

transVOCALE — cross-border festival since 2004

transVOCALE is one of Brandenburg's most amazing festivals: a cross-border music festival that uses the German city of Frankfurt (Oder) and its Polish sister city Słubice as a shared festival space. Both cities are separated only by the Oder river; the city bridge connects them. Founded in 2004, the festival will celebrate its 22nd edition in 2026.

Three days, 18 concerts, genre mix

From November 12 to 14, 2026, 18 concerts will take place over three days. Genre spectrum: world music, folk, chanson, rock, pop, jazz, Balkan beats. transVOCALE thus explicitly positions itself against genre festivals — the program policy focuses on cross-connections and surprises, with the unifying element of "song" as the central musical form.

Headliners 2026 — five acts confirmed

Five acts have already been confirmed:

• Tina Dico (Denmark) — Singer-songwriter with an international career, concert tour for her 2025 album
• Fortuna Ehrenfeld (Cologne) — Indie-pop band led by Martin Bechler, one of the most distinctive German pop voices of the 2020s
• John Porter (Great Britain/Poland) — Welsh musician who has lived in Poland since the 1970s and is considered a pioneer of Polish rock
• MASAA — Jazz quartet with Lebanese-German lineup, winner of the German Jazz Award
• Echa (Poland) — Polish alternative band

13 more acts will be announced by September 2026.

Unusual venues and aftershow parties

Characteristic of transVOCALE: the venues. Instead of large concert halls, the festival chooses clubs and unconventional locations on both sides of the Oder — small stages, intimate listening formats, unusual architecture. One concert might take place in a Słubice student club, the next in a Frankfurt library, the one after that on a ship's pier. Moving between venues is part of the festival experience — and makes the border between Germany and Poland a permeable festival membrane.

Aftershow parties with jam sessions and open stage

A second characteristic trait: the legendary aftershow parties with jam sessions and an open stage. After the official program, musicians and audience meet in the festival bar — the jam sessions often go late into the night and have become a hallmark of the festival themselves. Musicians who take the open stage as unknowns might be invited with a regular slot the next day. This mix of curated program and spontaneous scene makes transVOCALE one of the liveliest music festivals in eastern Brandenburg — and a fixture on the European world music calendar.