Soul Music Nights In Cork
The culture of soul music is alive and well in Cork with Northern Nights – a music club night that goes on once a month in the city
People
As I am fully aware that no one wants to hear the in’s and out’s of club promotion, I thought it might just be of some interest to talk a bit about the people behind the scenes. In our case, the northern soul scene. But let me just tell you about who we are, before I get into what the northern soul scene is all about. Martin Goggin is a well respected veteran on the Northern scene. Whilst his career is not in the music business he has tip-toed around it for the last twenty or so years. Interviewing the likes of Teddy Pendigrass to doing Radio shows for UK’s Starpoint radio. Breda Healy joined us on a voluntary basis, and has experience in event organization from Electric Picnic to Cork Film Festivals. Whilst I studied multimedia and work in the print and web industry
Music
For me, collecting music is not just a hobby, but like many others a necessity. The music truly is what its all about. That together with creating an atmosphere that’s personal and thrilling. The crowd of people we get tends to shock me each time. They’re always there to dance and never too concerned about looks or pre-occupied by the right moves. If you’ve ever gone to a northern soul night you’ll know it can be wild and upbeat to slow and sultry. A mix of moods that’s driven by an old 45. That’s what I find profound, and what I feel I’ve been searching for. That buzz of “hey, that’s my favourite song”. Or the chase of getting that illusive record. Its all part of the club scene and has been there since the first record was pressed
Influence
Everyone’s got their own ideas of what makes a great night. For me, late nights in Lebowski’s bar followed by a Henry’s session cannot not be an influence. But other nights too had a strong impact on my idea of what merits success. Many Cork nights that people can be proud of like “Telefunkin” at the metropole immediately springs to mind, as well as “Mór Disco”, “Soulsides”, Manchester’s music box, whilst more recently Dublin’s “Sleepless nights” have opened my eyes to what can be achieved with a room full of people. And more often than not, these occasions are driven by the mixture of the right people getting together. Right from the dance floor, to the ticket person at the door. I’ve been refused entry to more places than I can remember for wearing the “wrong shoes”, that it’s made somewhere I fit in, all that more special.
Success or Failure?
Failure is always a possibility, but our night began with the thinking of, well why not! This has been our philosophy for each one and continues to be. We believe its important to respect what has gone on before, but to also think a little differently. So, at the risk of sounding like a cheesy promoter we do have further info on our nights and music. For those who cringe at blatant promotion close your eyes now. www.thenorthernnights.com for weekly music samples, mixes, future guests. That’s it, you can open them now. Thanks for listening
Graham
357 total views, 1 today
