"Sfinks festival" Boechout by eddymario

For young and old, families with children and adventurous music lovers, Sfinks is an exploratory excursion into enriching cultures. It's a hospitable festival, where beautiful music, good food and drinks, amazing tents and structures await to please you. Atmosphere, music, encounters in an open, multicultural environment. A happening on a human scale where tolerance rules.
In 1975, Sfinks started as a small folk festival around the kiosk in the local school park. In 1982 Sfinks history was rewritten: from now on the festival featured a more exotic programme. At 'Sfinks Roots', bands such as Youssou N'Dour, Sun Ra Orkestra, Gilberto Gil, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cheb Khaled, Femi Kuti, Ruben Blades, etc played. In 1992 the festival saw its final edition on the original site that literally overflowed with over 20.000 visitors.

Due to the increasing success of the original formula, in 1994 the festival moved to the 'Molenveld' in Boechout. In 1992 the festival turned into a three-day event, and in 1994 a fourth day was added. This led to more stages and a more diverse programme. The opening day is mostly an affair for locals and volunteers, although outside visitors are welcome as well. Artists such as I Muvrini, Manu Dibango, Alpha Blondy, Goran Bregovic have performed at Sfinks.

Because of its idiosyncratic options and wide range of world music discoveries, Sfinks is considered one of the foremost festivals in Belgium. Every year about 40,000 visitors make their way to the festival site. About 1,500 volunteers help organizing it. In 2004 we welcome more than forty bands to our festival on six stages (The Circle, Club Stage, Concert Stage, Groove Lounge, Musicians' Club and Kidz Stage).

Sfinks also coordinates the European Forum of Worldwide Music Festivals (EFWMF), a unique network of 46 festivals in 18 European countries. These festivals all exchange ideas and discoveries, and make it possible for bands to come to Europe.