Dublin hosts its first full-scale African festival this weekend - and its second one.
The Festival of African Arts and Culture (Festaac) and the Afro Carnival will fill Temple Bar and Wolfe Tone Square, respectively, with music, movement and wild colour. For much of the bank holiday weekend the competing festivals will run simultaneously.
Mannete Ramaili, Lesotho's ambassador to Ireland, is launching Festaac at 7pm today in the Westin Hotel. An African fashion show will be held in the hotel from 9pm. The other festival, the Afro Carnival, starts at noon tomorrow and again on Sunday, with a line-up of top musical acts.
Spokespeople for both festivals say there is a positive relationship between the two organising committees. Each has pursued separate paths for sponsorship and scheduling. The organisers of both events claim to have the moral support of all the African missions in Dublin (Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Lesotho), as well as the consulates representing Ghana and Malawi, although the embassy of Lesotho has a higher profile with Festaac.
Ms Ramaili says she hopes the sudden dramatic demonstration of African exuberance will increase understanding between Irish people and the diverse and growing African community. "I am passionate about Africa, in the first place, my country, Lesotho, and Africa as a whole," she said.
"I think it is important to share our aspirations, share what we are with the Irish as our hosts, for them to get a better understanding of how we do things."
The festivals will celebrate African music, dance, food and friendliness. While reiterating that one cannot speak of Africa as one place and African as an adjective for one group, Ms Ramaili makes the general point that the level of everyday social contact in Ireland can be quite different from African norms.
"In Africa people walking down the street will greet people they don't know, and say 'How are you?' to strangers. In the workplace it's different too. In Africa people say hello to everyone when they arrive in the office. But here you just walk in and sit at your desk," Ms Ramaili says. "These are little things but they make a difference."
She says both sides can find the difference puzzling.
The ambassador believes recent demonisation of ethnic groups, such as comments by a judge that a disproportionate number of immigrants came before his court, is a worldwide occurrence.
"A mistake made by a foreigner is always the worst. In Lesotho we do the same thing. But I think this festival will try to eradicate such myths and let people know that Africans are not the worst animals on the planet."
Festaac is the brainchild of entertainment entrepreneur Tasia Joshua (aka Dr Rumba). It is sponsored by O2, radio station 98FM, Temple Bar Cultural Trust and Western Union.
Dr Rumba says the concept was initiated in 2001 for a festival in 2003, but it has taken another three years to get the festival off the ground.
"One festival is an Afro-carnival, ours is more of a cultural event," he says. "Temple Bar is all about culture and this festival is not just about coming and having a good time and waking up the next morning still thinking Africa is a weird place. It's a revelation process, the whole idea is to educate people."
The Afro Carnival is financed by the lord mayor's office, Fair Trade Ireland, the European Union office, Keating's bar, Fincon Integra and the Canal Partnership. The Nigerian-Irish Chamber of Commerce also contributed - Nigerians form Ireland's largest African community, with 22,000 people.
Home countries of entertainers performing at the carnival include South Africa (Pops Mohammed); Nigeria (Sammie Okposo); Kenya (the Dancing Kodumelas); Mali (Mamadou Diabete); and Congo (Jazmu). The headliner is Pops Mohammed, who has collected traditional music such as that performed by the Kalahari bushmen, and combined it with contemporary styles like hip-hop and house. Both days' events start at noon, in Wolfe Tone Park, beside the Jervis Street Shopping Centre. All the performances are free.
Organisers of the Afro Carnival say they welcome the fact that Festaac is also happening. "I think it's great," says Michelle McCrann of Talent Group Consulting, an Irish company working with developing markets in Africa and Asia.
"And our major events are taking place on Saturday when they don't have much on. People will be able to visit both. It's a positive thing."