FARETA2026
A week of drum, dance, doundoun dance and kora with West African masters Epizo and Sibo Bangoura.
Two brothers,
one camp.
Fareta is back for 2026. A jam-packed week of masterclasses in the bushland above Wentworth Falls, hosted at Happy Buddha Retreats.
Epizo and Sibo were born in Guinea into a family of griots. As griots they carry the family responsibility to hold and pass on the music, the oral history and the storytelling. Both have spent their lives teaching and performing this material in Australia and around the world.
They take students at every level and every kind of background. Expect to be challenged. Everything learned across the week gets performed on Thursday 1 October, with a night of live music and dance.
Four disciplines.
Drum
Djembe, taught the way it is taught at home, by ear and by repetition.
Dance
The movement the rhythms were written for, with live drums behind it.
Doundoun dance
The bass drums danced as well as played. Rarely taught outside Guinea.
Kora
The 21 string harp of the griot. Booked separately, and there are only so many instruments.
The week ends
with a show.
Everything learned across the five days gets performed on the Thursday night, with live music and dance. Nobody sits it out and nobody has to be good at it.
The week,
hour by hour.
Arrive from 2pm on the Sunday. The middle four days all run the same shape, so you always know what is next.
You do not have to
do the whole week.
Three ways to be there, and people do all three. Stay the week, stay somewhere else and come in for what you want, or drive up for a day.
Stay the whole five nights
Bed, all your meals, morning yoga and evening meditation at Happy Buddha. Your classes are on top of this.
Stay nearby and come in
Sort your own bed anywhere in the mountains and book only the sessions you want.
Drive up for the day
Wentworth Falls is about two hours from Sydney. Come for a couple of classes and drive home.
Tuition and your bed
are booked separately.
Two bookings, two people, two payments. Nothing is paid through this website.
Booked with Epizo
Drum, dance and doundoun dance. Kora is priced on its own.
Coming for the whole week? Book it on Happy Buddha's page, workshops and room together, and Epizo takes it from there.
Book the weekJust coming for a class or two? Tell us below and we will line it up with Epizo. Tuition is paid to him in cash on the day.
Booked with Happy Buddha
1 to 5 nights, your choice, or $450 for all five. Twin share room, three vegetarian meals a day, morning yoga and evening meditation included.
The yoga and meditation are Happy Buddha's, and they come with the room rather than the tuition. Pool, the zen den, and walks straight out of the property.
This is a subsidised rate and it depends on booking at least two workshops a day.
A room to yourself is $50 a night on top, arranged with Happy Buddha directly.
You can also sort your own bed and food, or drive up for the day. There is plenty of both around the Blue Mountains.
Rooms are booked on Happy Buddha's own site, where you pick your nights and pay.
Book your stayThe whole week, staying on site.
Kora is on top of that, $200 for all five classes. It comes to less if you stay fewer nights, sleep somewhere else, or buy single classes rather than the week.
Children 12 and under can stay in your room, up to two of them, at $10 a night including food. Bring a camp bed and sheets. They join sessions free. Teenagers 13 and over book the nightly rate and their own tuition.
Children have to be supervised the whole time. The retreat centre will ask a family with unsupervised children to leave.
Coming for a
class or two?
The full week, room and all, is booked on Happy Buddha's page. This form is for anybody dropping in for a workshop or a day. Nothing is charged and nothing is held, it just tells Epizo what you are after before you speak.
Who you are
How much of it
Where you'll sleep
Rooms are booked with Happy Buddha directly, not here. This just tells Epizo what to expect.
Anything to ask
Nothing is charged · Epizo confirms and takes payment himself
Rooms are booked separately, on Happy Buddha's own site.
The African Drum and Dance retreat at Happy Buddha Retreats is one of my favourite retreats so far. Beautiful volunteers, vegan food and amazing teachers, Epizo and Sibo. I come back every year since 2023.
Four things
before you come.
Bring your own drum
There are some to borrow but it is first in, first served, so bring one if you have one.
Koras are limited
There are only so many instruments in the room, so the kora classes fill first.
Tuition is cash
Paid directly to Epizo, who runs the camp. Nothing is charged through this website.
Two separate bookings
Tuition with Epizo, bed and meals with Happy Buddha. They are not one payment.
Happy Buddha Retreats
50 Railway Parade, Wentworth Falls NSW 2782
Private bushland in the historic town of Wentworth Falls, about two hours west of Sydney by road and on the Blue Mountains train line.
Hear about the next one.
Occasional email when Sibo has a camp, a retreat or a workshop on. Two or three a year.
Two or three emails a year. Unsubscribing works.