On Saturday 21 June, as the longest day of the year edges into night without fully letting go, Sofrito returns to the Fox & Firkin in Lewisham for its annual Summer Dance. It’s a night made for sound systems. The light stretches long into the evening, the garden fills early, and the music starts before dark. Sofrito brings the full crew, a heavy rig, and a record bag connecting Caribbean street parties, African dancefloors and South London basements. The music will run until the light returns.

At the heart of this year’s edition is picó: the towering, hand-painted sound systems of Colombia’s Caribbean coast and the culture built around them. Assembled from salvaged parts and set in brightly painted wooden cabinets, each picó is a customised mobile rig with its own name, look and following. In Cartagena and Barranquilla, these systems power neighbourhood dances, blasting African highlife, Congolese soukous, zouk, salsa, champeta and cumbia. Tracks are often slowed down or dubbed out to match the system’s weight. DJs rename tracks in local slang, produce custom edits and compete for sonic dominance. The culture is both hyper-local and globally connected, with deep roots in African and Caribbean music.

Edna Martinez, a Berlin-based DJ and researcher originally from Cartagena, has spent years tracing and reframing this tradition. Her recent compilation Picó! Sound System Culture from the Colombian Caribbean, out tomorrow via Strut Records, brings together rare recordings, field tapes and original edits. Her DJ sets follow the same approach, folding folkloric percussion into bass-heavy frameworks built for the club. At the Fox & Firkin, she’ll bring that sound directly to the floor.

Hugo Mendez, Sofrito co-founder and selector, joins her. His sets have long linked Caribbean, Latin and African rhythms without falling into genre curation. Since launching in East London in 2006, Sofrito has favoured rhythm over category: champeta, cadence, gwo ka, maloya, highlife, disco and dub played without explanation or hierarchy.

Also on the line-up is SNO, the South African DJ based in Manchester, known for clean, percussive sets that move between Afro-house, broken beat and deeper club grooves. Her background brings a contemporary edge to the night, bridging South African dance music with wider global styles through tight, floor-oriented selections.

The Fox & Firkin remains a natural home for this kind of session. A former Victorian pub with a sprawling beer garden, a custom-built outdoor soundsystem, and a reputation for drawing together a brilliantly diverse crowd. There’s room to move, space to breathe, and a soundsystem that doesn’t mess about. There’s room to move, space to breathe, and a system that doesn’t mess about. Inside, the layout is stripped back but full of character — wooden floors, mismatched vintage furniture, a compact stage halfway down the bar, and walls dotted with posters, plants and oddities that reflect the venue’s community roots. It’s a place that feels like it’s been shaped by the people who use it. Outside, the crowd spills into the garden, past trees and the old railway carriage now fitted out as a DJ booth. The sound hits clean. The setup gives the music time — and space — to build without interruption.

For Sofrito, it’s the right fit. The focus stays on the sound, not the branding. This is about selection, pacing, rhythm, and what the floor needs next. Expect vinyl, dubplate edits, new remixes and transitions that ignore genre lines. For anyone interested in sound system culture, diasporic dance music or club nights that still trust the DJ, this one’s worth showing up for.

Don’t miss the Summer Dance, advance tickets available HERE