Bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and producer Shabaka Hutchings is one of the artists who has performed at Le Guess Who? numerous times and we are delighted to have him back for our 20th anniversary edition. Over the years, he has reshaped global perceptions of jazz and experimental music through a practice that moves fluidly between jazz, electronic, spiritual and diasporic traditions.
After performing with The Ancestors (2017), The Comet is Coming (2018) and Sons of Kemet (2018 and 2021), SHABAKA returns to Le Guess Who? 2026 as part of aja monet's curation to present his new music, together with percussionist Austin Williamson.
In his solo work, Shabaka’s music reflects a deepening focus on breath, embodiment, and personal authorship. Where earlier projects explored collective improvisation and a withdrawal from familiar forms, his 2026 album Of The Earth represents integration—uniting rhythmic propulsion, textural depth and melodic openness within a singular creative vision. Drawing together the dance-driven energy associated with his band and the quieter, breath-led language of his recent solo explorations in Perceive It’s Beauty Acknowledge It’s Grace, this record establishes Shabaka as a fully realized instrumentalist-producer.
This immersion transformed his understanding of resonance, phrasing and melodic flow, and continues to inform his relationship with the saxophone, which he returned to with renewed clarity following an extended period away from the instrument. For the first time in his recorded output, Shabaka also incorporates his voice, using rap not as a stylistic departure but as another extension of rhythm, breath and musical phrasing.
Before participating as a guest curator for Le Guess Who? in 2018, Shabaka Hutchings was invited by James Holden to perform with The Ancestors. Relive their magnificent set recorded at Le Guess Who? 2017.
SHABAKA performs at Le Guess Who? 2026 on Friday, 6 November, as part of aja monet's curation. Also performing at the festival are a.o. aja monet, ESINAM, TENGGER and many more.
