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Pakistani rock stars, Bollywood inspired salsa dance, pyrotechnics and fountains plus six stages of the best live music, comedy and dance. This year’s London Mela has it all.
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 The main stage promises to deliver the hottest acts this summer. Headliners includes Pakistan’s Atif Aslam, making his first UK appearance, Pascal of Bollywood, a Frenchman who went to Bollywood and came back a singing sensation, and Chirag Pechchan, who will perform with Amarjit Sidhu and Mangal Singh. Other acts include Ajay, Hard Kaur, and Menis Nazza.
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An area dedicated to the fusion of South Asian Classical music and Electronic sounds!
There will be performances by Pathaan, Abdul Smooth, Shiva Soundsystem and Nerm - who will also be at the Indian Electronica Festival in London on August 26th! as well as Bobby Friction's production partner the Infinite Scale ... Institute of Contemporary Arts artist and XFM DJ Nick Luscombe will perform with his band Gume, and the Sense 3D zone features eight handmade 10 foot tall shells creating a spectacular surround sound!!?
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 The best of British street theatre featuring Bombay Baja, The Flying Buttresses, and, back by popular demand, the 2005 success, the extra tall Mayor and Councillor of Gunnersbury Park.
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 With an unique mix of the sassy, experimental and crazy, the cabaret heritage stage has something for everyone - featuring circus artists, comedians, contemporary dance, hip hop, and spoken word. Headliners include the Espirro crew firing it up and D’Archetypes using rap, comedy and multimedia to discuss identity.
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The London Mela is committed to highlighting new and emerging talent. The community stage is regarded as the ‘stepping stone stage’ as it showcases future Mela headliners. This year's performers include Jay Kumar's Dance Asia, the Angel Dancers, Threebee and Desi Dholi.
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 The best live British Asian urban music stage in the world. Hosted by Bobby and Nihal from Radio 1, and programmed by Nihal. Headliners this year will be The Kray Twinz, The Rishi Rich Project, Jag and Sonna Rele.
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A delightful playground for both the young and the young at heart. This year enjoy the incredible Kaleidoscope Project, and a collaboration between Grange Park School in Hillingdon and Emergency Exit Arts, which combines interactive workshops with storytelling. Plus you’ll have the opportunity to learn those essential bhangra steps with Jugnu Bhangra.
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Asian music has a long tradition of music and dance, presented in a unique concert hall setting. Habib Sabri will headline, and Akademi will present a programme of classical and folk dance.
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A key aim of the London Mela is to commission emerging artists and companies to create new artistic work.
To date we have successfully commissioned three new pieces of outdoor work, ranging from processional street theatre, a circus and a classical music installation.
This year we present two new works, Tabla Blah Blah and The Kaleidoscope Project, which we are developing over two years. 2006 will see the works in progress at the Mela, finishing with a creative presentation in 2007.
With Tabla Blah Blah, we are continuing new commissions influenced by iconic images. This new piece features live performance and soundscapes and is a collaboration between DJ and broadcaster Bobby Friction and London-based Tabla guru, Pandit Sharda Sahai. The piece will be performed by the students of Pandit-ji - the Sangeet Ensemble.
The Kaleidoscope Project aims to make visual arts and traditional mela art forms more accessible to a larger audience. It is inspired and directed by the young people of Grange Park Infants School in Hillingdon, and produced by artists from Emergency Exit Arts. Using rangoli as a starting point, and blending digital technology and rangoli patterns, artists and young people will engage with an art form that is a thousand years old.
Both of these commissions have been made possible by Arts Council England.
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london mela 2006 