The second annual Guinness Southern Soul And Disco Festival, which runs from Friday until Sunday in Cork city, promises to colour the deep South in a summery wash of funk.
Soul boys and disco divas from all over Ireland and the UK will descend on supple-hipped Leeside for an event that blends choice live acts with a selection of internationally-sourced DJ-ing talent.
The festival club will in the pleasingly lush environs of the Metropole Hotel, where the ballrooms of romance will see performances from New York hip hop icons The Jungle Brothers, soul legend Gwen Dickey, once of Rose Royce, oldskool boogie supremo Norman Jay and many more.
A selection of the city's most funkadelic juice joints, meanwhile, forms a pub trail that features the key players from Ireland's club culture. Among the bands taking part are The Bodega, Rumplestiltskins, The Lobby and the Donkey's Ears. Wild-eyed club impresarios from Dublin's Powderbubble, Galway's GPO, Limerick's Silk and Cork's Mr Disco will be given a pub each to offer up a booty-shakin' feast of glitterball excess.
The Soul And Disco, organised by a coalition of Leeside nightlife supremos, is a festival founded on the belief that the dance culture that has dominated the nation's clublife this past decade needs to be broadened and explored if it is to achieve significant longevity. No better way of doing this, they believe, than going back to the roots.
The Jungle Brothers appear at the Metropole Hotel, Cork, on Saturday night. Tickets are available from the usual outlets.