Festival Músicas do Mundo, Sines: new mayor, budget cuts, but the spirit persists as this important and progressive festival pushes on
Another great year of Sines’ infamous Festival Musicas do Mundo festival, another year of some of the most diverse and progressive programming in some of Portugal’s most stunning beach towns continued with a new mayor.
This year, however, came with a new political reality. With long-serving mayor and festival director Nuno Mascarenhas — who served as festival director for the past 12 years — out of office, incoming mayor Álvaro Beijinha (from the Coligação Democrática Unitária, or CDU party) directed his first edition. At an end-of-festival press conference, director and lead programmer Carlos Seixas and the new Chamber president confirmed the 2026 budget came in around €350,000 to €400 000 below last year’s €2.1 million total, with cuts felt across catering, production, and the geographical reach of the lineup. As a result, the kind of far-flung international bookings that previously brought artists from India or West Africa are now increasingly difficult to finance.
This year’s festival also featured reduced camping freedoms: setting up a tent was restricted to the far side of town made for an undesirable 30-minute walk late at night, although the camping was still free. And police replaced security staff at the castle, which created quite the weird vibe — would have been great if someone got them more casual jackets.
But despite all this, lead programer, Seixas and the team persisted in delivering one of Portugal’s most beautiful and progressive festivals, and the 70,000-strong crowd, as always, responded in the best way possible with a strong, friendly, and open vibe descending on the idyllic Sines and Porto Covo beach towns.
The festival as normal hosted dozens of concerts across five stages. The stand-out headliners on the final weekend were Nana Benz du togo from Togo and Cuban latin jazz ensemble Orquesta Akoká,n playing the closing of the castle, with Palestinian act Isam Elias closing the entire festival on the beach.
All in all, another great year of the FMM despite the internal municipality struggles. If you’re Portugal-based this festival really is a must go – just make sure your Portuguese is up to scratch first.
