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EDINBURGH MELA - GATHERING OF WORLD CULTURES |
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A major highlight of the Scottish Summer is the Edinburgh Mela when Pilrig Park hosts one of the world's greatest cultural gatherings this side of Calcutta.
Mela is a Sanskrit word for 'get-to-gether' or celebration. This year, the Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani communities combined forces to offer the best of Bollywood live on stage, acrobatic dancers from India, top quality UK Bhangra, marching brass, musical fusions and drums of every skin from the
dhol and samba to the celtic bodhrΓ΅n.
'The sun is shining, there's music blasting in your ears, dancers every where and families out in style. Stalls are laden down with food and fabrics, from silk to charcoal roasted corn-on-the-cob. It feels just like India!" says Indrani Bhattacharya, a singer with Sangeet Mala, an Asian choir from Kirkcaldy, performing at the festival.
 ΜύRead Indrani's story here.
 
One of the highlights of the festivities, 'Soundings from Three Lands' best encapsulates the spirit of the Edinburgh Mela. Featuring a programme of music fusing the melodies of China, Pakistan and Scotland, it celebrates the unique qualities of each culture in the context of their common creative threads.
'Through playing the music together we begin to understand how the same feeling is expressed in different ways through our respective cultures. That way we can learn to communicate interculturally,' says Kim Ho Ip, a Chinese yang qin player.
 ΜύRead more about Kim and this cross-cultural collaboration.
Also in our Festival Calendar:
Watch a spectacular Chariot Festival in Tooting, South London.
Dance for nine nights at the
Parade through the streets of East London with a Hindu Carnival
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