Scotland's biggest inter-cultural arts festival will be returning to Pilrig Park, Leith at the end of the summer 2007.

With over 30 countries taking part over the three day Mela, the diversity of performers and styles will be sure to suit all tastes.

This year's programme features the usual artistic blend of dance, music and visual art - with performers whose backgrounds range from as far afield as Tibet, Nepal, China, Brazil, Iraq and Iran.

With the introduction of various new elements, artistic programmer, Stephanie Turner, is confident the performers will be welcomed to the city with the passion and energy that they have received in the past. She said: "Visitors to the Mela can expect to see a wide range of multi-cultural performances from both experienced and up and coming artists, as well as a number of participatory visual arts events and workshops. And this year, for the first time we will be introducing poetry and theatre to the programme."

Daytime and evening performances will include.

Jassi Sidhu - performing for the first time at the Edinburgh Mela and with two albums to his name, Jassi has played a major role in developing bhangra music in the UK.

Hunterz - Urban musician with Arabic and Indian influence. He has performed with UB40 and The Dhol Blasters at Live 8.

Josh - Canada duo bhangra band whose songs feature both modern hip-hop and traditional bhangra beats - Josh recently performed alongside songstress Nelly Furtado.

Soname Yangchen - Tibetan songstress who performed for the Dalai Lama in Edinburgh back in 2004.

Kathakali Dance - Classical South Indian tribal dance will be performed by a renowned Kathakali artist in Scotland for the first time. Costume and make up preparation alone takes nearly 3 hours.

Rahat Zahid - Pakastani poet who translates Robert Burns poetry into Urdu.

Anshul Tomer - singer who made it to the finals in the 2003 Indian Pop Idol' will be performing a range of love songs fresh from his 2007 Fringe show run.

Tasmin Lucia Khan from Zee TV returns for the 2nd year running as host for the weekend.

The Edinburgh Mela will also be hosting the finals of the Mela 5-aside Football Cup. Winning teams from six other UK Melas will battle it out for the cup in Edinburgh over the festival weekend.

9:45am Tuesday 7th August 2007

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