MICHAEL KIWANUKA

British musician Michael Kiwanuka introduced and ingratiated himself in 2012 with his acclaimed debut album, Home Again. A talented, unassuming young man of Ugandan heritage and honeyed voice, right then Michael was already busy making some of the sweetest contemporary soul music of recent years. An artist in its truest, purest sense we’re thrilled to have this year at our festival.

With a BRIT Award to his name before arguably finding his own distinct space, Michael took a decidedly left turn with Danger Mouse produced sophomore LP Love & Hate (2016). The record flew to number 1 in the UK, with its otherworldly soundscapes sounding utterly both singular and sprawling, including the haunting ‘Cold Little Heart’ featured as the title music to the Big Little Lies tv series, introducing Michael’s music to a whole new and appreciative audience (counting the likes of Barack Obama, Adele, and Tyler The Creator amongst them). It was a blueprint for KIWANUKA (2019), a complex but deeply listenable and expansive expression of self-worth which reaped Michael the distinguished Mercury Prize in 2020, his fourth and fifth BRIT nominations and his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Album. We’re eager to find out how an artist begins to follow up one of “the greatest albums of the decade” (The Guardian).