KiKuMu Festival Returns

Text Stewart Johnson
Photo Visit Estonia / Evert Palmets

One of Estonia’s newest summer festivals returns for its second edition from 9–12 July 2026, transforming the historic Jäneda Manor into a four-day celebration of music, contemporary art and cinema. KiKuMu is a portmanteau for cinema, art, and music—kino, kunst, muusika. Music remains the festival’s largest programme just as last year, but this year’s event has expanded considerably.

Performances are spread across six stages, both indoors and outdoors, including a large main stage, several indoor venues, a lakeside stage at the nearby Kali Lake, and, for the first time, the grounds of Jäneda Manor itself. More than forty Estonian and international artists are scheduled to perform over the four days, while the festival also includes six art galleries, two cinema venues, workshops, and lectures.

The international music programme this year is rather surprising, considering how young the festival is. Among the headline performers are Swedish indie-pop veterans Peter Bjorn and John, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough album “Writer’s Block”. This will be their only concert in this part of the world this year, and they have promised to play the album in full.

They are joined by British jazz-afrobeat collective Nubiyan Twist, German electronic duo Booka Shade, acclaimed British DJ Gilles Peterson, dream-pop artist Maria Somerville from Ireland, and Estonian–UK trio Night Tapes, whose appearance follows a European arena tour and is announced as their only Estonian performance of the summer. Local artists such as Vaiko Eplik & Eliit, Holy Motors, Gram-Of-Fun, Kirke Karja, Zebra Island and numerous DJs with popular programmes such as “Haiglapidu” are also set to perform at KiKuMu.

If you’d like to read a first-hand account of how last year’s festival was, look here. Tickets and more information about this year’s programme are available here.

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Art Cinema Festival Jäneda KIKUMU music Music Festival summer festival