Mela 2008 UK Listings

June 2008

Party time: Wolverhampton Mela, June 6 onwards & throughout July.

Wolverhampton Indian Summer

June 6 onwards & throughout July
City of Wolverhampton College kicked off the city’s Summer celebration of Indian culture with an evening of feasting and entertainmen to celebrate a series of events to celebrate the contribution people of Indian descent have made to the city.

Wolverhampton India Summer is part of a wider initiative - The Wolverhampton India Project - which aims to build on the existing links between the city and the sub continent by focussing on the three areas of trade, education and sport.

Wolverhampton India Summer is a collection of events to celebrate the contribution of people of Indian descent to the city and enhance cultural understanding. The initiative is being promoted by a range of partners including the council, university, college and many others. Ashram Housing is the main sponsor of the programme of events.

Throughout  June and July Indian restaurants across the city will be celebrating the best of Indian food, with a series of set menus focussing on a different restaurant each week.

The college’s Director of International Strategy Simon Larson said: “City of Wolverhampton College is proud to be part of this innovative project celebrating fifty years of the significant contribution made by the Indian population to the city, in terms of  education, sport, building the economy and enriching the culture of such a diverse community.”

Jo Gittens, Director of International at the University, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this initiative and our students and staff are looking forward to celebrating Indian culture in Wolverhampton this summer.”

The following Indian restaurants will be taking part in India Summer:
Kavi, Park Hall Hotel, 7th to 13th June, Contact Rishi Sharma on 01902 349533.
Diva, 14th to 20th June, Contact Raj Singh on 01902 722888.
Red Fort, 21st to 27th June, Contact Shan Herian on 01902 424440.
Taste of India, 28th June to 4th July, Contact Naresh Sangha on 01902 424433.
Café Rickshaw, 5th to 11th July, Contact Salim Hussain on 01902 425353.

Wolverhampton India Summer is a collection of events to celebrate the contribution of people of Indian descent to the city and enhance cultural understanding. The initiative is being promoted by a range of partners including the council, university, college and many others. Ashram Housing is the main sponsor of the programme of events.

The initiative forms part of the Wolverhampton-India Project, launched at the Houses of Parliament on 25 July 2007. Initially driven by Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden, the Project is also supported by the city’s other MPs and also the Prime Minister.

There is also high level support from the city council, the University of Wolverhampton, City of Wolverhampton College and Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club. Other supporters of the project include Caparo, Ashram Housing, UK Trade and Investment, AWM, Wolverhampton Chamber of Commerce and India-Pakistan Trade Unit.

The main focus will be in the Punjab region where many benefits are anticipated in the three key strands of Trade, Education and Sport.
There has been a long tradition of dialogue and co-operation between different faiths in the city. In 1974 Wolverhampton became one of the first towns to establish an inter-faith group, promoting friendship, understanding, justice, peace and harmony between people of different faiths and cultures.
To find out more call 01902 551155 or visit www.wolvindia.org

Band the drums: Bradford Mela, Sat 14 & Sun 15 June.

Bradford Mela

Sat 14 & Sun 15 June
A celebration of music, arts, food and produce from around the world, embracing the Sanskrit meaning of mela to the fullest. Over 200 market stalls selling everything you could want, from mouth watering foods of the world over, to clothes, toys and jewellery.
After all that mouth wateringly delicious food you’ll want to work off some off those calories so why not visit the Sports Arena and test out just how fit you are. Join in the Junior Kabadi, football skills masterclass or try your hand on the Rugby Football league inflatable.
The ‘Fabric Marquee’ will feature exhibitions of the work of some of Fabric’s 500 members including paintings, prints and photography plus a number of artists and designers selling jewellery, prints, cards and original clothing. The marquee will also feature acoustic performances from some of Bradford’s finest musicians. You will also be able to see sketches by Bradford artist Lou Sumray who will be wandering the Mela site with easel and umbrella sketching the goings on and creating a record of the Mela weekend.
Also watch out for some new work by Bradford artist Shanaz Gulzar. Shanaz is creating a series of banners on bamboo frames using images from previous Melas and from Melas around the world.
For the little ones in the family there is a special children’s area and take a trip around our beautiful world. Check-in, collect your passport and start your journey across the globe. Visit the Yurt tent, a traditional home for people in central Asia. Fly across to Baluchistan in Pakistan and the Punjabs in India and across to Bangladesh.
Peel Park, Cliffe Road, 12 – 9pm, free, tel: 01274 43 2422, www.bradfordmela.org.uk

Preston Mela

15 June 2008
The Preston Mela celebrates South Asian culture in all its forms, from food and fashion to music and entertainment, at the city’s Moor Park.
The event was first held in 1997 and is now one of the biggest festivals in the North West. The park is transformed into a sea of colour, dance and music. Over 10,000 people enjoy the celebrations, which include fashion shows, kite-making, henna painting, dance and music performances from top artists.
Preston Mela is now in its eleventh year as a major public - community cultural event for the city.
This event will be a one-day flagship event to showcase and promote South Asian heritage, art and culture in Preston, celebrating cultural diversity thereby promoting community cohesion.
The committee plan to do this by organising a full day festival that supports and promotes both traditional and conventional South Asian arts, culture and heritage of music, dance, crafts and food. It will include a full programme of performances by professional artists, a number of interactive craft, dance and music workshops, fashion shows, crafts activities and food stalls.
Moor Park, 12 – 8pm, free, k.plano@preston.gov.uk

Crawley Mela

21 June - 26 July
Crawley Dhamaka Fun Day, Multicultural Youth Activities
What do you do when you’re consistently the biggest event in town? For CIMA, the answer is to challenge our members to find new ways to engage the community and share the wealth.
Since 2003 the Crawley International Mela Association (CIMA) has built the Mela Festival into the largest single event in Crawley, attended by more than 10,000 people over three days. 2007 was no exception.
But the Association is much more than a festival organiser - CIMA is a year round community service. We sponsor and run multicultural outreach events, fundraisers, social activities, the Childrens’ Parade, and the Artist In Residence programme at local schools. All this takes a massive amount of time and effort for our volunteers.
This year we’re taking a break from festival organizing to catch our breath and recharge our creative batteries. While the festival programme team is hard at work planning a bigger, better festival for 2009, most of the committee is bringing out new activities for 2008:
June 21 - Childrens’ Multifaith Parade, 12pm, Garden of Remembrance to West Green Playing Fields
June 21 - Summer Dhamaka Fun Day from 1pm at West Green playing fields
June 21 - “Unsigned” ViYC and CBC Open Mic Night for acoustic bands, at the Hawth Studio from 8pm
July 26 - Dances of India, performed by Sutton Subrang at the Hawth from 7:30pm
September (TBA) - Youth Evening at the Hawth in collaboration with Crawley ViYC to launch the CIMA Youth Team - stay tuned for details!
Stalls and Pitches. There will be some opportunities for retail stalls at the Summer Dhamaka Fun Day on June 21st. We expect more than 3000 visitors over the afternoon and rates are in line with projected attendance.
See www.crawleymela.org for details, news, progress reports on the developing plans for community events and the Mela Season, programme details, helpful hints on parking, locations of stalls and workshops, special offers and links to our bands and acts’ websites.

Fun for the family: Glasgow Mela, 22 June.

Glasgow Mela

22 June
Glasgow Mela is a multicultural family festival, based on the traditions of the Indian Sub-continent. Set up in 1990 when Glasgow was European City of Culture, the Mela has grown from being an indoor event at Tramway to an outdoor extravaganza with over 50,000 people attending.
The Scottish Academy of Asian Arts took over the running of the Glasgow Mela and Mela 2007 will be the eighth Mela under the SAAA banner.
The Mela continues to go from strength to strength and has become an important event in Glasgow’s cultural calendar. The Mela embraces the many cultures that make Scotland such a diverse nation, with music from reggae to Russian folk, Latin American beats, Pan African music and of course Bollywood and bhangra.

Headline acts include:
World Stage 2008
Sukshinder Shinda
A gifted singer, composer and producer, Sukshinder Shinda has collected an impressive string of hits that are known throughout the world. Shinda has been a force in the Asian music scene for over 15 years and has had string of smash hits including ‘Balle’, ‘Collaborations’ and recently ‘Livin the Dream’.

Hands in the air: Glasgow Mela, 22 June.

The Destroyers & The Dhol Blasters
This is a unique group collaboration between ‘The Destroyers’ and the ‘Dhol Blasters’ an amazing spectacle of 20 musicians on stage together! The two bands have been working together over the past year and the Glasgow Mela will be the first performance of this collaboration in Scotland! Fusing Bhangra and Dhol rhythms with Eastern European folk, jazz, ska and everything else inbetween, this performance cannot be missed!
www.freakmusic.co.uk

Northern Lights
Northern Lights promise to bring an innovative mixing pot of dance, song, and infectious beats that will be irresistible to the Mela crowd. Tarv Singh has previously hosted the Awaz Mega Mela in Strathclyde Country Park in 2003 and hosted the Glasgow Mela in 2004 and 2005. In 2005 Tarv released his first album ‘Sparked’, staying at number 1 for 7 weeks in the British Asian Music Charts. Tarv is now based in London and is a radio DJ for Asian FX. Watch out for the new Northern Lights album ‘Relit’ out on Liquid Records in 2008. 

Tigerstyle
Glasgow Mela is proud to play host to this home grown talent. Glasgow’s own Raj and Pops are proficient in tabla and Pujabi folk music, but as famous DJ’s and producers extend their tastes to drum n bass, hip hop, dance and bhangra. Tigerstyle are one of the few Asian acts to have ever recorded a live session for the legendary late Sir John Peel. They were given the opportunity to showcase material from their forthcoming album supported by a full live band and feature vocalists at the first ever BBC Electric Proms in September 2006, and were selected out of 1000s of bands to perform on the first ever BBC Introducing Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in July 2007.

Awaz FM
The Glasgow Mela welcomes back local boys Awaz FM with their interactive roadshow. They will compere the World Stage this year spinning the best desi, bhangra, bollywood and Lollywood tunes, not to mention hyping the crowds with their undeniable fun filled ways!

Desi Bravehearts
The group consist of 9 young people from Scottish, Indian, Chinese and Pakistani background.  The group were trained by the much sought after choreographer in the Bollywood Film Industry Pratap Shetty. Pratap was one of the choreographers for Nach Baliye 3 equivalent to Strictly Come Dancing in the UK.  The shows were aired on Star TV and his pair was the runners up in the final.

Kathak dancers
SAAA’s very own students will display their skills they have learnt at evening classes throughout the year with our new Kathak tutor Sudakshina Kundu.
Contact SAAA office.
Contact: Ashley Cook, Scottish Academy of Asian Arts Project Co-ordinator
Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, 12 noon-8pm. Tel: 0141 423 2210, info@saaa.org.uk, www.glasgowmela.com

Oxford Mela

Sun 22 June
Returing for its third year! Free family event for all to enjoy, participate in and celebrate Oxford’s diverse communities. The event is managed by Oxford City Council in partnership with Oxford Brookes University and Thames Valley Police.A number of other organisations also sponsor and support the event. A wide variety of sports, music and dance activities will take place through out the day.
Cowley Marsh, 10am – 5.30pm, free, www.oxford.gov.uk/news/mela.cfm

Cardiff Mela

Sun 29 June
Hosts this year are cheeky and funny Zee Muzic Presenter Dolfin and Bibby Singh. Since starting his career in 2003, Dolfin has seemed to take the Asian media and music industry by storm. His success at the 2006 Zee Carnival which led to a 10 date Mela tour, from Edinburgh to Bristol. Such was his popularity that he has already been rebooked for a further tour this year including none other than Cardiff Multicultural Mela! He has interviewed the likes of Shilpa Shetty and with his cute looks and wild attitude Dolfin will leave you just guessing what he will do next.
Bobby Singh is currently working on his solo material which is set for release next year; already his vocals have been used by Panjabi MC as well as other well known artists. He has worked with RDB on the smash hit compilation album Danger 2 released by untouchables records. The 35 year old city-born son of Punjabi immigrants, now a professional singer with four children is the embodiment of that overused political buzzword multicultural. Appropriately, this truly Welsh Sikh is the host of the city’s first outdoor festival celebrating Cardiff’s multicultural communities.
Main Performances include the Sona Family, dancer and singer Mona, Reenie and Hassaan Khalid.
Oval Basin, Roald Dahl Plass, all day, free, www.cardiffmela.com

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