Now marking a decade of sonic adventure, Budapest Ritmo returns from 10–12 April 2025 with its most expansive and forward-looking edition yet. Over three days, the festival sprawls across venues in the city centre—from the open spaces of Városliget to the architecturally acclaimed House of Music Hungary and the ever-eclectic Akvárium Klub—bringing together traditional roots, digital innovation, and the beating heart of musical diversity.

This 10th edition is a celebration not just of Ritmo’s journey, but of the cultural vitality Budapest contributes to Eastern Europe’s global music landscape. With showcases, headline concerts, and a parallel industry conference that tackles urgent questions of decolonisation, sustainability, and AI, Ritmo 2025 stakes its claim as one of the continent’s most essential music gatherings.

Thursday, 10 April

The three-day-event kicks off at the architecturally stunning House of Music Hungary, nestled within the verdant expanse of Városliget. This venue, renowned for its innovative design and acoustics, provides an intimate setting for the day’s showcase performances, each offering a unique sonic journey.

The afternoon features free showcase concerts, highlighting emerging talents from the region. These performances provide attendees with a unique opportunity to explore the dynamic and evolving music scene of Eastern Europe.

At 4:00PM, the Hungarian ensemble Rézeleje Fanfárosok takes the stage, delivering a compelling fusion of Moldavian, Romanian, and Balkan melodies. Their sound captures the dynamism of Csángó dance traditions and the robust energy of Balkan brass bands, offering a high-spirited interpretation of 21st-century folk music.

Following at 5:00PM, Kosovar artist Agona Shporta presents selections from her debut album, Hape Portën. As a vocalist, pianist, and composer, Shporta reinterprets Albanian folk songs, crafting evocative soundscapes that resonate with historical and cultural significance. Her debut album, Hape Portën (Open Your Gate), serves as both a musical and metaphorical invitation, echoing the sentiments of the 1990s isopolyphonic song “Hape Portën Moj Evropë” (Open Your Gate, O Europe). This performance holds particular significance, marking Shporta’s inaugural visa-free appearance in Budapest, underscoring the evolving cultural connections within the region.​

Closing the afternoon showcases at 6:00PM, Slovakian singer Júlia Kozáková offers a heartfelt exploration of Slovak Roma music through her project Manuša. Mentored by the esteemed Ida Kelarová, Kozáková’s performances are characterised by emotional depth and a seamless traversal of genres, embodying the vibrant spirit of Roma musical traditions. Currently studying jazz singing in London, she brings a contemporary perspective to the rich heritage of Slovak Roma music.

As dusk settles, the festival transitions to an open-air concert at Városliget’s Nagyrét, underscoring Budapest Ritmo‘s commitment to accessible and communal musical experiences.

At 6:30PM, the energy shifts with the arrival of FÜLÜ, a seven-piece outfit from Toulouse that wastes no time getting things moving. Their set feels less like a warm-up and more like a jolt of electricity. With brass at the core and synths darting around the edges, they channel something between a funky street parade and a warehouse rave.

FÜLÜ’s sound is hard to pin down, but that’s part of the point. There are flashes of carnival percussion, bursts of brass that recall Balkan fanfares, and a relentless undercurrent of techno that pulls it all together. It’s a mix that’s both visceral and meticulously constructed. Within minutes, the park will transform: part dancefloor, part sound experiment, and exactly the kind of unexpected thrill that’s come to define Budapest Ritmo’s opening night.

A night headlined by none other than Fatoumata Diawara, one of Mali’s most globally respected artists, whose set promises to be a defining moment of the festival’s 10th edition. Effortlessly blending Afro-pop with traditional Wassoulou roots, and layering in elements of jazz, electronica, and Afro-blues, Diawara has carved out a sound that shows just how comfortably she moves between tradition and experimentation.

But it’s not just her musical range that makes her stand out. Diawara’s performances carry a political and cultural weight. Whether advocating for women’s rights or speaking out against the erosion of Mali’s artistic heritage, her voice resonates well beyond the stage. At Budapest Ritmo, she embodies what the festival increasingly stands for: music that connects and challenges, that celebrates identity while pushing boundaries. 

Friday, 11 April

The second day of Budapest Ritmo unfolds across multiple venues, each hosting a curated selection of performances that encapsulate the festival’s dedication to musical diversity and cultural dialogue.​

The day commences at the House of Music Hungary with the Ritmo Conference, a gathering of industry professionals, artists, and enthusiasts dedicated to exploring the evolving landscape of world music. Esteemed speakers, including Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan, renowned for his work in field recordings and preserving traditional music, share insights drawn from extensive experience, offering attendees a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.​

As the Ritmo Conference winds down, the energy shifts from conversation to performance, and the House of Music Hungary transforms into a platform for discovery. Friday’s free afternoon showcases begin at 4:00PM with Haldamas x Hulajdusza, an ambitious collaboration uniting eight musicians from Hungary and Poland. Their set unfolds as a lively dialogue between Eastern European folk traditions and contemporary improvisation, balancing rustic melodies with loose, jazz-inflected phrasing. With fiddles, reeds, and voices entwining in shifting formations, their music reflects the messy, generative beauty of cultural encounter, setting a thoughtful, exploratory tone for the evening ahead.

At 5:00PM, Croatian solo artist Vuk takes the stage, stripping things back to elemental force. Performing with frame drums, throat singing and the haunting resonance of the farkaš tambura, he crafts dense, loop-based pieces that feel both ancient and strangely modern. Where Haldamas x Hulajdusza lean into interplay, Vuk draws power from isolation: his voice and instruments converging in a solitary act of sonic storytelling that taps into the ritual and the raw.

The series concludes at 6:00PM with LELÉKA, a German-Ukrainian quartet whose shimmering, jazz-influenced interpretations of Ukrainian folk songs bring the showcase full circle. Their performance floats somewhere between memory and reinvention, carried by vocalist Viktoria Leléka’s weightless phrasing and the ensemble’s spacious arrangements. Hints of melancholy underlie their dreamy textures, yet the result is never heavy, rather, it’s a meditation on cultural continuity, and the possibility of joy within it.

With the afternoon showcase closing on a note of melodic introspection, the festival’s momentum builds towards its evening programme, where scale, intensity, and stylistic breadth all shift into higher gear. As the sun dips below the skyline, Akvárium Klub becomes the pulsating heart of Budapest Ritmo, its three rooms—NagyHall, Lokál, and KisHall—each curating distinct sonic pathways that criss-cross genres and geographies.

At 8:30PM in the NagyHall, Szabó Balázs Bandája step into the spotlight. Long one of Hungary’s most beloved live acts, the group fuses indie folk, poetic lyricism and a kind of theatre-born physicality that brings their songs vividly to life. Balázs Szabó, equal parts frontman and storyteller, draws on Hungarian literary tradition as much as musical, giving the performance an almost narrative structure. Their set is made even more resonant by the presence of Mónika Lakatos, the groundbreaking Roma singer and WOMEX Award laureate. Her raw, richly ornamented voice cuts through with spiritual weight, offering a counterpoint to Szabó’s tender introspection. Together, they don’t just share a stage, they co-create a conversation between Hungarian and Roma musical lineages, both grounded and gracefully expanded.

At 10:00PM, also in NagyHall, the energy takes a sharp and welcome turn with Altın Gün. The Amsterdam-based group has become a global festival favourite by reimagining Turkish psychedelic rock with playful modern flair. They treat 1970s Anatolian classics not as artefacts but as living organisms, breathing new life into songs by the likes of Neşet Ertaş and Erkin Koray through deep funk rhythms, analogue synths, and locked-in grooves. The result is both hypnotic and danceable, invoking the spirit of tradition without being beholden to it.

While NagyHall delivers the big moments, the parallel sets in Lokál and KisHall offer more intimate, sometimes more experimental experiences.

At 9:00PM in Lokál, Ali Doğan Gönültaş brings a quiet intensity to the evening with his deeply personal renditions of Anatolian and Mesopotamian folk songs. Singing in Kurdish, Zazaki, and Turkish, and accompanying himself on tembur and guitar, Gönültaş’s performance is spare but emotionally saturated. His music is less about arrangement than atmosphere, each phrase hanging in the air like a remembered story. His set is raw and direct, drawing listeners into a slower, more contemplative frequency.

Meanwhile, at 9:30PM in KisHall, Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers deliver one of the evening’s most unapologetically fun sets. This Dutch collective specialises in sun-drenched, vintage-tinged dance music that draws from disco, funk, afrobeat and Caribbean rhythms. With vibrant costumes, tight grooves, and infectious energy, their performance plays out like a joyous revival: equal parts throwback and future vision. It’s the kind of act that doesn’t just perform to the audience but actively with them, turning the room into a communal space of movement and release.

At 10:30PM, back at Lokál, the tone shifts again with the arrival of Carmen Souza. Born in Lisbon to Cape Verdean parents and currently based in London, Souza embodies an entirely different strand of the Lusophone musical diaspora. Her voice—playful, elastic, and endlessly expressive—glides through jazz phrasing and Creole rhythms with effortless grace. Backed by a nimble band, she builds a soundworld that feels both grounded in tradition and joyfully eccentric. Whether riffing on morna or scatting over a samba groove, Souza performs with the kind of technical precision that never sacrifices soul.

And at 11:00PM, the day’s journey concludes with FÜLÜ, returning to KisHall for a late-night closing set that’s anything but winding down. It’s a final statement that reaffirms Budapest Ritmo’s core belief: that tradition isn’t static, and that the best way to honour roots is to move with them.

Saturday, 12 April

Saturday marks the high point of Budapest Ritmo. It’s where the ideas exchanged in quiet morning panels ripple into the body-shaking rhythms of the night. From conference halls to open-air dancefloors, the festival doesn’t just showcase music, it interrogates, celebrates and reimagines it.

The day begins at 10:00AM at the House of Music Hungary, where the second morning of the Ritmo Conference resumes. While Friday’s sessions leaned toward industry-focused dialogues on global touring and ethical production, Saturday dives deeper into questions of identity, transmission, and technology’s role in folk revival. One panel explores the reinvention of ritual in live performance, featuring artists like Kovács A. Máté and members of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, who later bring those ideas into physical form onstage. Another session addresses postcolonial listening and the risks of exoticisation in festival programming, an essential conversation in a scene that trades heavily in “world” aesthetics. What emerges is a vision of music not just as entertainment, but as a form of cultural stewardship and political agency.

As the talks wrap up around 4:00PM with the Ritmo Award, the tempo gradually shifts. By 6:00PM, DJ Keyser begins his vinyl journey on the Akvárium Terasz, laying down a set that blends West African funk, Lebanese psych, Colombian cumbia and vintage Anatolian pop. His selections are global yet grounded, forming warm, undulating transitions that turn the terrace into a slowly uncoiling groove session. It’s an ideal early-evening reset: energetic enough to stir movement, but spacious enough to allow conversation.

The festival’s first main performance hits the NagyHall at 8:30PM, where Italian powerhouse Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino joins forces with Hungarian percussionist Kovács A. Máté and friends for a fiery, one-off collaboration. Anchored in the pizzica tradition of southern Italy—music born out of healing rituals and ecstatic dance—the set pulses with tarantella rhythm, hand drums, and raw vocal refrains. Kovács, known for his percussive precision and deep connection to Hungarian and Romani traditions, drives the fusion forward, while the Latin influence lends an irresistible swing. It’s one of those rare festival moments where formality dissolves, and bodies move before minds can catch up.

At 9PM, over in Lokál, The Breath offer a striking counterpoint. Ríoghnach Connolly’s voice—raw, radiant, and unguarded—leads a set of songs that feel both grounded in Irish folk and unbound by it. Stuart McCallum’s deft, spacious playing lets every syllable breathe. Their performance is meditative without losing urgency, emotionally resonant without ever becoming overwrought.

Over in the KisHall at 9:30PM, Amsterdam’s Dutch-Indonesian outfit Nusantara Beat explode onto the scene with a performance that’s equal parts tropical hallucination and precision ensemble work. Built on a foundation of traditional gamelan-inspired rhythms, surf guitars, and 1970s psychedelic pop, their music is dense, propulsive and wildly fun. Layers of hand percussion, Indonesian melodies and vintage synths give their sound an unmistakable texture: at once rooted and completely untethered. It’s as much a dance set as it is a musical time-travel device, channeling the heyday of Indonesian rock with a fresh, genre-melting edge.

That introspective thread is picked up and spun in a different direction at 10:00PM, when Michelle Gurevich takes to the stage. A cult figure in underground circles, the Canadian-Russian artist offers cinematic melancholy at its most distilled: low-lit ballads delivered in a baritone drawl, wrapped in lo-fi glamour. Her songs, often built from skeletal synths and soft-focus guitars, conjure faded grandeur and intimate unraveling: think Nico at a Soviet supper club. Gurevich doesn’t work the crowd so much as cast a spell over it, turning her set into a slow-burning emotional experience.

But Budapest Ritmo doesn’t stay still for long. At 11:00PM, Hungarian band MORDÁI crank up the volume, cutting through the softness with folk rock that’s dark, dissonant, and steeped in Central European atmosphere. Drawing from archival Hungarian folk songs and reworking them with electric instrumentation and a cinematic sense of scale, their sound veers toward the dramatic, like if Bartók wrote for a post-rock ensemble. This set also marks the debut of material from their forthcoming album, rumoured to dive deeper into experimental territory. If earlier performances asked for feeling, MORDÁI demand reckoning.

Simultaneously, Las Lloronas step onto the Lokál stage at 11:30PM crafting a final moment of intimacy. Melding folk, spoken word, and a touch of blues, their sound is contemplative, their delivery quietly urgent. Each song feels like an open letter: grief, desire, displacement and memory wrapped in rich vocal harmony and bare instrumental lines. After the communal intensity of the earlier set, this is an invitation to look inward, and listeners lean in.

Then, to bring it all to a close—or send it into after-hours orbit—Acid Arab take over NagyHall for the after-party at 11:30PM, flanked by Turkish selector Vedat Akdag and Bosnian-born, Berlin-based Adis Is OK. The Parisian duo behind Acid Arab are masters of borderless club music: Arabic scales and North African percussion layered over pounding techno, dubby textures and acid-laced beats. It’s not fusion—it’s friction. The kind that builds tension, surges, drops, and leaves the floor gasping. The additions of Akdag and Adis expand the night’s regional scope and sonic palette, ensuring this final chapter stretches well past midnight and into sweaty, sun-up euphoria.

As Saturday spills into the early hours of Sunday, Budapest Ritmo closes not with a single grand finale, but with a series of overlapping moments, each one shaped by contrast, encounter, and movement.

This year’s edition, marking a decade of Ritmo, shows how the festival has matured: not just in scale, but in its ability to hold space for complexity, balancing traditional forms with experimentation, scholarship with celebration. It’s a reminder that world music isn’t a category, but a context, shaped as much by how we listen as by what we hear.

Budapest Ritmo doesn’t claim to define that context, but it continues to ask the right questions. And that, more than anything, is what keeps it relevant.

Looking for a long weekend filled with incredible music from all over the world?
Pack your bags and make your way to Budapest RITMO from 10 to 12 April

Single day tickets and festival passes are still available HERE