Fabrika Festival 14: five days on the beach in Monastir

Fabrika is leaving Hammamet. For its 14th edition, 5 to 9 November 2026, the festival sets its stages on the beach at One Resort Aqua Park & Spa in Monastir, and takes the whole resort with it.

Paris, 2013

It all started far from any beach. Fabrika was born in Paris in 2013 as an electronic music and visual art collective: people who love stripped-back house and techno, and who care about the image as much as the sound. The collective ended up settling in Tunisia, at the El Fell hotel in Hammamet, and the festival grew there slowly, edition after edition, without ever raising its voice.

It still ended up counting. Today Fabrika is spoken of as one of the most respected underground gatherings in Africa and the MENA region, a festival that presents itself as the first of its kind at this scale on the continent. The line has not moved: minimal, deep, stripped back, sets that take their time. Ricardo Villalobos, Raresh, Rhadoo, Thomas Melchior, Ion Ludwig and Dan Andrei have all been through, and Tunisian artists have always played next to them, not as openers.

A marathon, not a sprint

People who write about Fabrika keep coming back to the same picture: you do not come for a night, you live there. The 2021 edition ran four days at the El Fell, with guest crews like Berlin's Club der Visionaere, young creators showing their work between sets, and Ion Ludwig closing with a five-hour live. The sun, the resort, music that never quite stops: it is a marathon, and the festival owns that.

It owns its positions too. The edition planned for November 2023 was pushed back to the end of February 2024, in solidarity with Palestine. Founder Walid Triki called it a decision of principle, not a scheduling problem. The festival is also cashless and cares about its ecological footprint, which in 2026 is still less common than it sounds.

Nobody goes home

Monastir changes the rhythm more than anything. At One Resort everything happens in one spot: three stages, the beach, the pool, around thirty creator stands, workshops, installations, places to eat. And everybody sleeps on site. No taxi at six in the morning, no road to take, nobody slipping away.

That is some 4,000 people living together for five days, which the organisers read as a very Tunisian trait: people here are welcoming and make room. The festival turns into a village where music is the common language.

The pictures from past editions set the tone: a stage under a red canvas with a hexagon of light behind the decks, beams cutting through smoke, a gate of neon planted in the sand, and that stage doubling itself in the water of the pool.

Who plays

At the top of the bill, Nicolas Lutz, Foehn & Jerome, Maher Daniel, and Trent Voyage with Elena Moroder. Right under them, the Tunisians: HearThuG, Min8, Amin, Snailee.

The second wave added a few names to watch: James Creed, one half of The Ghost, playing solo; Markus Nikolai, co-founder of Perlon, live with vocals; Omar, from Uruguay; and the duo K.O.D, Cabanne and Lowris. Also on the list: Gojnea76, Miller, KBY, Prichindel, Lil Jack, Cristi Cons, and live sets from Ion Ludwig, Aline Umber, Pan-J, Space 909 and Elise Jilian.

The full list runs past 95 names. Briki, who played Aina in May with Keep Hush, is on it too, and a third wave of artists is still to be announced.

What the festival wants to say

Fabrika presents itself as a showcase for Tunisian talent and a celebration of Tunisian culture, through five days of music and its workshops. The organisers also want it to be a place to talk about what is happening here and elsewhere, the subjects close to their hearts, and they hope that message travels past the MENA region, to the United Kingdom and Europe.

Tickets and accommodation

Tickets and accommodation are sold on Tunis Events, through three listings. The festival's own page is fabrika14.tunis.events, and the official site is fabrika-fest.com.

The three listings:

• Fabrika Festival 14, the festival itself
• Accommodation at One Resort Aqua Park & Spa, on the festival site
• Accommodation at L'Archipel Hotel

Photos: © clickowner, © nynomedmhamdi.

Look for upcoming festivals and club nights on Tunis Events.