It’s in the DNA of most club nights that they have a short lifespan. Trends come and go, bands rise and fall and nights can go from having queues out the door to struggling to make their hire fee back in no time at all. It takes a special formula for a night to last for six months, never mind five years, but it’s a formula that Oxford’s Bossaphonik seems to have found as it recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

Started in October 2004 by Gil Karpas and Dan Ofer, it has played host to more than 40 bands and has booked a bill so diverse it makes Glastonbury seem staid and mainstream. Over the years, it has covered just about every genre of music you could think of. Bands that have played there include The Destroyers, a 15-piece Balkan big band who mesh gypsy folk with classic brass; Kokolo, a US collective who combine afrobeat with modern funk; Los Cerebos, who blend salsa and Afro-Cuban party jazz . . . we could go on all day. Think of two genres of music and the chances are they’ve been moulded together and booked to play Bossaphonik.

“The reason we started Bossaphonik”, says Karpas, “was because there was so much great world music out there and there just wasn’t a platform for it. I was living in Oxford and I really wanted somewhere to go to hear bands that weren’t mainstream and to have a night that would give all these musicians who were making such great dance records a chance to be heard. I think we’re really happy with what we’ve set up.”

It’s not only the organisers who are happy with what they’ve achieved, Tim Hopkins, manager of the Cellar, off Cornmarket Street, the venue which hosts Bossaphonik, speaks incredibly warmly of it. “I’m really proud to have had it here” he says, not surprisingly, given it packs his venue every time its on. “Bossaphonik always gets a great crowd; I don’t think there’s anywhere else in Oxford – or anywhere else I know in fact – where you get such a diverse mix of music. The promoters work so hard to get the best acts. I wouldn’t know where to start in booking any of them, but their contacts book is really good. It’s such a brilliant night; I hope it goes on as long as possible.”

“That’s great to hear” says Karpas. “We’re very grateful to the Cellar for supporting us, they’ve been great.”

Cut to Friday, January 8, 2010. Bossaphonik have booked Chancery Blame and the Gadjo Club, a band who sound like the Pogues would if they’d all been descended from Eastern Europe. Outside, the ground is covered with snow and it’s still coming down, Oxford is deserted and buses are running a skeleton service. Any other club night would be writing this night off, lucky to claw 20 people in, but not Bossaphonik, as jazzy grooves, afrobeat and Latin hip hop fills the air, the Cellar fills and fills, by the time the band hits the stage the place is at capacity.

Not only this, but the crowd has a wide age range. There are groups of students, couples in their late twenties and some people who must have seen off middle age a good few years ago. One punter, Alice, who’s studying at Oxford, stumbled across the night by accident, but has been hooked ever since.

“I have no idea how I found it,” she says. “ I definitely didn’t plan to come here, but we did and I love it. I’ve been back lots since and I’ve had a brilliant time. You don’t get music like this anywhere else and it’s such a mix of people. It’s amazing; I really hope it keeps going.”

Bossaphonik’s future isn’t in doubt, “We’re very happy with the format” says Karpas. “We’d like to do some bigger gigs, maybe once a year, that sort of thing; but we’re going to keep focusing on booking great bands for the night.

Bossaphonik is next on tomorrow, with Baraka, a band composed of musicians from Ghana, Senegal, The Congo, Dominica and Ireland. Judging by the last five years, it’ll be nothing short of superb. (www.bossaphonik.com)