SHABAKA
Curated by aja monet
Bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and producer Shabaka Hutchings has reshaped global perceptions of jazz and experimental music through a practice that moves fluidly between jazz, electronic, spiritual and diasporic traditions. Where earlier projects explored collective improvisation and a withdrawal from familiar forms, he now focuses on integration, uniting rhythmic propulsion, textural depth and melodic openness. Drawing together the dance-driven energy associated with his bands, Sons of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming, and the quieter, breath-led language of his recent solo explorations, his latest album, Of The Earth (2026), establishes SHABAKA as a fully realized instrumentalist-producer. The music is built from portable instruments and tools, with looping rhythmic structures underpinning expansive choral melodies performed primarily on alto flute, alongside saxophone and, for the first time, his voice.
aja monet returns to Le Guess Who? after her acclaimed performance in 2024, which was considered a highlight of Arooj Aftab's curation. With her new album the color of rain, she returns both as a performer and curator. A surrealist blues poet, aja monet follows in the footsteps of a long tradition of poets dedicated to social movements for change. For Le Guess Who? 2026, she curates a program that explores themes of resistance, love and the inexhaustible quest for joy.
Photography by Joseph Ouechen
