How melas helped define British Asian culture

2:20pm Sunday 14th March 2010

By Asian Image reporter

Melas have been important in defining British Asian identity a new book and exhibition.

Naseem Khan, arts policy advisor and a previous Head of Diversity at Arts Council England, explains that the dawn of large scale cultural Melas like Bradford and Nottingham in 1988, helped the Asian community see themselves as significant contributors to British society, both culturally and economically.

“It was very impressive actually - hundreds and hundreds of Asian people together - and that sense of obvious strength and ‘solidarity’ and a sense of power, if only economic power.

"Not only were the Asian arts actually coming out into the mainstream but you also have the shift in the playground... The Mela actually perhaps had a hand in showing the community back to itself, reflecting a sense of numerical power and creative vibrancy.

To actually see something which was writ large across the face of society made you feel good. It was the sense of this being normality as opposed to being marginality.”

Melas are now part of many of the UK’s significant annual events in cities and large towns up and down the country, and are often seen as good examples of the Government agenda around community cohesion.

No longer is the Mela a place for just Asian families, but is increasingly a multicultural festival attracting audiences from all backgrounds. Audience research at the 2009 Bradford Mela suggests that around 50% of the 200,000 visitors over the two day event were non-Asians.

Yet Melas are still perceived by some to be Asian events catering for the South Asian community. As they come of age, one of the greatest obstacles for Melas is to challenge these perceptions.

The Bradford and Nottingham Melas coincided with the explosion of Bhangra music in Britain in 1988 but as the Melas have grown and ‘come of age’ they have been significant in developing routes for artists into the mainstream.

Artists such as Bobby Friction, Jay Sean and Nitin Sawhney have all performed at Melas, building up a fan base, prior to mainstream success.

As Mira Kaushik, Artistic Director of Akademi Dance, points out: “My daughter was part of the thirteen year-old girls' camp who started promoting Jay Sean in their network. This is five or six years ago before Facebook started.

"These groupies texted each other where Jay Sean was performing, and they travelled to every possible Mela around the South of England at least.

"They hung around the Mela circuit because it was free and accessible. She was not allowed to go to adult places but the Mela was outdoors and it was daytime.”

‘Coming of Age’ concentrates on the development of two of the country’s first and most established and innovative Melas - Bradford and Nottingham.

The project will result in a touring photographic exhibition together with a full colour book which will provide a retrospective look at the last 21 years of the Mela and its roots and progress in the UK.

The book is based on a series of conversations with Mela organisers and programmers, artists, musicians, cultural commentators and stakeholders.

It places Nottingham and Bradford Melas within a national Mela landscape and celebrates some of their achievements.

The launch of the exhibition and book will take place at New Art Exchange, Nottingham, on Friday 28 May 2010 and will be open to the general public between 29th May and 3rd July 2010.

It will show at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, from 7th August to 7th November 2010.

The book and exhibition ‘Coming of Age’ will reflect on past successes and help audiences recognise the importance of the British Mela in the British cultural landscape.