Its back! Northern Ireland's largest multi-cultural festival!
Celebrating culture and creativity, the Mela, meaning ‘to meet’, will display the sights, sounds and smells of ethnic origins, showcasing music, dance, arts and food from across the globe. The festival is the largest multi-cultural celebration the North and crowds are in for a variety of treats as this year’s event is jam-packed with a show-stopping schedule, all taking place in Belfast’s beautiful Botanic Gardens on the 28th August 2011.
Headlining the Mela’s World Stage is ‘Delhi to Dublin’, who are a Canadian based band that plays an energetic mash-up of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub Reggae and Electronica with a healthy dose of global rhythms and club beats. Supporting this fantastic group, are semi finalists of Britain’s Got Talent 2010, ‘Three Bee’ who are an innovative Indian dance company based in London. Bold, beautiful and very Bollywood, ‘Three Bee’ will perform with creativity, energy and enthusiasm resulting in an unforgettable dance experience. Bringing a unique flavour of modern ethnic sounds, will be ‘Village Kollectiv’ from Poland who are the first group to bring a Polish fusion of electronics with live sound of original instruments and traditional vocals, in a truly mashed up musical and cultural experience.
As well as a fantastic line-up of music and dance, the Mela will feature seven zones including a world food market incorporating a global cookery theatre, a community showcase area featuring local artistic talent, a global bazaar and shopping area, ethnic circus and street arts shows, a health zone offering alternative therapies and herbal treatments from across the world and Culture Land – an interactive cultural learning experience for young people. Brand new to this year’s festival will be the Saheli Tipi, meaning Friendship Tipi, which will introduce a fourth stage to the event promoting a range of more intimate cultural performances. Alongside this there will be a chance to learn about ‘Kabadi’ – a traditional team contact sport from South Asia.
Nothing compares to the energy, vibrancy and colour of the Belfast Mela – a perfect way to round off your summer in the city!
