Over the next four days, Cork will play host to an array of African cultural, social and political events in a number of venues across the city. Music acts include the legendary Reggae pioneer Gregory ‘loverman’ Isaccs, writer of hits such as ‘Love is Overdue’, ‘Soon Forward’, ‘Black A Kill Black’ and ‘Night Nurse’, who plays the Savoy tonight.

The Crane Lane will again be the destination for African music revellers on Saturday (note: all events on this day are free) as the all Nigerian Oleku Band kick off proceedings with their authentic Afrobeat & High-Life musical styling’s (3pm) before Cork’s most prominent African musician Niwel Tsumbu and his Motema outfit bring their Congolese roots, Rumba & Soukous to the people (5.30pm). Niwel returns to action later that day with another free gig at Sin É with a more relaxed acoustic roots and unplugged African jazz set.

Other (free) events include an African art exhibition at the Lewis Glucksman Gallery UCC, on Thursday, May 22, an African vocal workshop with N’Faly Kouyate at the Cork School of Music on Saturday, children’s workshops, talks, African food and cultural displays at the Crane Lane, again on Saturday and an all-day Pig Roast with barbecue and sound system at the Franciscan Well on Sunday. And finally, for those with itchy feet, the Dance Workshop at the Crane Lane on Sunday (E5) offers intrepid dancers a chance to be introduced to rhythms and dance movements of the West African region.

All considered, this years festival line-up represents a quantum leap forward in terms of its scope. The eventual realisation of the Cork based FéileAfrica ambition’s has been five years in the making according to the organisations director Phil Bergman. “FeileAfrica has grown through its longevity and popularity, not just with Ireland’s increasing African population, but also with the Irish audience being fed up with hearing the same old thing, i.e. middle of the road music that was popular when I was a boy back in the 60s. Many of the Europeans now living in Ireland would find our kind of concerts very similar to what they would experience back home in London, Paris, Madrid and Berlin and so our concerts are very often attended by people speaking many tongues.

“The Africa Day Festival we have planned for this weekend has really been waiting five years. We’ve been waiting for the funding to come along and thanks to Irish Aid’s initiative and funding we can, at last, take it from being a single event and mould it into the festival it was always meant to be.”