This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Kwaku Summer Festival. In 2014, the NBE traveled through the inlands of Suriname, ending with a grand concert in Paramaribo in collaboration with the National School of Folk Music and artist Marcel Pinas. Now more than ten years after this special journey, we are very honored to open this Kwaku Summer Festival anniversary year. The NBE shares the stage with Dutch-Surinamese jazz diva Denise Jannah and many other (local) heroes. Don’t miss it, immerse yourself in the mix of the spirited sounds of Kwaku musicians and the NBE at the most multicultural music festival in the Netherlands.

The Kwaku Summer Festival began in 1975 as a small-scale soccer tournament among the high-rise buildings of the Bijlmermeer, for the youth who could not go on vacation and thus still had a nice summer. Not much later, soccer teams from all over the Netherlands traveled to the Vogeltjeswei in the Bijlmer, not only to enjoy the often exciting competition but also to meet each other while enjoying bamie, blood sausage, fladder and Surinames.

The festival has developed into a great happening and a major multicultural event with more than 150,000 visitors from Amsterdam and all over the Netherlands. The festival brings cultures together with performances, dance, film, music and, of course, soccer and culinary delights.

when to see it

• Sat 12 Jul 2025 15:30 Amsterdam Nelson Mandela Park (Podium Waterkant) Tickets