It's August - It's Mela Time

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Outdoor Festival takes place at Gunnersbury Park

Europe’s biggest free outdoor celebration of South Asian music, dance, food and creative arts returns to Gunnersbury Park, Ealing for the 12th successive year on Sunday, 31 August.

Last year’s London Mela attracted 80,000 visitors and this year’s festival promises to be an equally thrilling feast of entertainment; taking place across nine separate zones; including the main stage, BBC Asian Network new music tent, Care Pakistan Magic Mela family area and, new for 2014, the Oxfam global local stage.

Free and family-friendly, the event also boasts a fun fair, outdoor arts, a market place and delicious food from around the world.

The London Mela is produced by Ealing Council and supported by the Mayor of London and London Borough of Hounslow; with other major partners including BBC Asian Network and Oxfam. Featuring a huge variety of global artists, as well as home grown talent, the event offers the best of South Asian culture.

Headline acts on the BBC Asian Network main stage include Miss Pooja, the largest selling female bhangra artist in the world, Bollywood heartthrob, Arjun and the ‘Justin Bieber’ of the Pakistan music scene, Asim Azhar.

The outdoor arts programme, meanwhile, promises to bring a touch of the Notting Hill Carnival to the proceedings — with a 140-people-strong procession called Utsava, led by internationally renowned carnival arts company Mahogany — drawing on the Indian and Caribbean influences from Trinidad and Tobago.

Leader of Ealing Council, Councillor Julian Bell, said:

“We are proud to co-host this fantastic event again. The Mela is a great opportunity for residents and visitors to come together and celebrate the best of South Asian arts and culture. Set in one of our most historic parks the Mela combines English Heritage with the borough’s cultural bond with Asian communities across the world.”

 

20th August 2014