The rollicking Gypsy Carnival returns this Friday with another great line-up, showcasing the brilliant and diverse Balkan influenced music that is being produced in all sorts of places. It's hard to get farther from the Balkans than Australia, but that is where The Crooked Fiddle Band hail from.

Strange bunch Cleckhuddersfax are. The lead singer tends to favour an orange Speedo, which bears more than a slight resemblance to Borat's mankini, and sings constantly distorted vocals. Their name is a Leeds slang term for a conurbation in West Yorkshire that is beset by problems of unemployment, drugs and crime.

Pantha du Prince is a German electronic music producer, who is very much the flavour du jour at the moment. He has recently remixed the likes of indie darlings Animal Collective and Fourtet to great acclaim. He is undoubtedly one of the leading electronic music producers although he is heavily influenced by the likes of My Bloody Valentine and other shoegaze bands.

Cyprus Avenue and Black Sun have come together to present a musical legend and one of the most interesting live acts that will be seen in Cork this year. Damo Suzuki's Network is an experimental and improvisational unit that functions around the Japanese singer.

Mick Lally and Geraldine Plunkett star together again in John B Keane's hilarious play 'The Matchmaker'. The pair are very well-known from their 16 years playing a married couple in the much-loved TV series 'Glenroe'. 'The Matchmaker' is the longest running Irish comedy. Lally and Plunkett play a host of immortal John B Keane characters, all of them determined not to meet their Maker before they've met their match.

Richie Egan, better known now as Jape, is one of the most mercurial of talents in Irish music. A member of Irish underground heroes The Redneck Manifesto and the main man and principal songwriter behind Jape, one of the acts most likely to storm into the mainstream, unless he has already done so. Brian Hayes Curtin found out more

In a nation blessed with numerous world class comedians, Ardal O'Hanlon is certainly in the top tier. Over the last 12 months or so, he has returned to his earliest love which is stand up comedy. Thankfully for us too, as he hasn't lost that gift, as he proved a few months ago at the Opera House, which was sold out or close to it.

Anne Savage is one of the world's leading ladies in dance music with a career that spans over nearly two decades. She has evolved as a DJ embracing everything from electronica to hard dance playing the best clubs and festivals across the globe. She has become a best selling producer with a more accomplished and diverse CV than most DJs could dream of constantly finding new ways to look and sound more vital than ever.

The always mind expanding Black Sun returns to the Pavilion with a fresh night of experimental sound noise. This edition will feature Mark Durgan, Michael Prime (Organum), The Quiet Club and an experimental film programme curated by Maximilian Le Cain. Putrefier, aka Mark Durgan, has been an active member of the UK noise scene since the inception of Putrefier back in 1986.

Ghostcat are a London based band that have attracted a lot of attention over the last 12 months, only partially because of their music. Canadian singer Ali Cat has appeared on the cover of Elle and other fashion magazines and has been described as 'Karen O for the catwalk'. Heady praise indeed.