UPBEAT Best New Talent Award 2026 – Vote Now! | Songlines
Tuesday, April 21, 2026

UPBEAT Best New Talent Award 2026 – Vote Now!

ADVERTORIAL: UPBEAT Platform’s Best New Talent Award directs the limelight on Europe’s best upcoming artists who fuse tradition with fresh energy, celebrating distinctive music scenes beyond the mainstream. Meet this year’s 10 shortlisted nominees and vote for your new favourite artist.

Upbeat Bnt Songlinesbanner

Alba Pujals

Spain

Alba Pujals is a rising jazz trombonist, blending tradition with contemporary influences, exploring rich textures, improvisation and her bold, evolving artistic voice.


AySay

Denmark
AySay blend Anatolian folk with Nordic electronic pop to create a genre-defying sound shaped by cultural exchange, the saz sitting next to modern production techniques.


Nusantara Beat

Netherlands

Nusantara Beat dive into Sundanese tradition and the shimmering gamelan scale, pelog, crafting a rich, hypnotic sound both ancient and strikingly futuristic.


Elana Sasson

Spain

Drawing on Kurdish, Persian and Mediterranean roots, Elana Sasson creates an evocative musical landscape where modern jazz meets the beauty of folk traditions.


Nama Dama

Cyprus

Nama Dama works at the intersection of folk, electronic and contemporary ritual, creating immersive, live performances centred on looping, layered vocals and theatricality.


Ão

Belgium
Blending electronica, art pop, saudade and Latin, the Belgian quartet combine warm bilingual vocals with guitar, layered electronics and eclectic percussion to deliver captivating live shows.


Bianca Steck

Spain

Bianca Steck crafts intimate, cinematic songs that exist between indie, pop and folk, blending delicate arrangements with atmospheric production and reflective, sincere songwriting.


TRUCS

France

TRUCS transform Pyrenean bell sounds into experimental music, adding percussion and electronics to create immersive soundscapes merging tradition, rhythm and innovation.


Gordan

Serbia / Austria / Germany

Gordan mirror the mysticism of legends from the Balkan region, creating a music that stretches between expressiveness and abstraction, tradition and the avant-garde.


SARĀB

France

Sarāb blend post-punk chaos with Arabic poetry and Middle Eastern influences. Their 2026 album, Mīt Warde, delivers politically charged rock and techno, performed with raw, hybrid energy.

Vote here: https://upbeatawards.eu

Subscribe from only £7.50

Start your journey and discover the very best music from around the world.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Songlines magazine.

Find out more