By Maneet Bakshi

LONDON MELA

OVERVIEW• The London Mela is held every year on the last weekend of August/ September in

Gunnersbury Park, Hounslow.

• This is a very prestigious music event for upcoming artists in the south Asian community for their voice to be heard and talent to be seen.

• The Mela is normally Free and run by the BBC , this is quite a spectacular event for all casts, cultures and ages.

AUDIENCE• The Mela is normally a family event as whenever you go there, you have something to do

for all ages, such as : whilst teenagers and adults are listening to young and bright artists sing the young children can then go and enjoy their activities as they have a play area, bouncy castle and face paintings.

LOCATION• The London Mela is situated in Gunnersbury park in Hounslow, Middlesex.

This is a brilliant place to have a mela for two reasons; size of the park and area as Hounslow is considered to be the hub for south Asians from Bengali to Indian.

• Also is easy to commute to from anywhere within the area as they have Hounslow station and a few bus stops near the park.

COST• Each ticket at the London Mela is free because they are making money for charity

through the asian community.

• In the mela they have features which have to be paid for such as food, backstage passes, souvenirs etc.

FAMOUS PERFORMANCESThe London Mela has been running from 2003 and since then they have never failed to have a famous artist not turn up for a performance with acts such as:

• Jay Sean – Ride It

• Arjun – Come on rude girl

• Raxster – Vampire

• Stranger Family – Ghetto Refix

• H-Dhami – Sohniye

All of the above are all south Asian Urban singers however the Mela for them issimply just a stepping stone into beingrecognized for their full potential.

INCENTIVESOther then most of the street artists in the Mela there are also well known artists with millions of followers such as Jay Sean, Arjun, Mumzy, H-Dhami and Raxster this makes the Mela really stand out other then the free and unlimited tickets. They all also have a pretty big fan base this enables the event to really stand out as these artists are also international.

ADVERTISINGMethods of advertisement for the Mela in the UK was literally ‘insane’ as the event was owned by BBC this meant that the Mela could have been advertised with so much is with very little hassle, for example it was advertised all over the radio and also on the BBC website and if you watched BBC channels one to four you may have noticed a few pop ups of the extravagant event called the ‘London Mela’, they was also with Brit Asia TV this meant another channel also advertised this event.

PUBLICITY• The London Mela was originally Publicised due to the success Jay Sean, Rishi Rich and

Juggy D had with their songs ‘eyes on you’ and ‘dance with you’. Ever since the Mela has been making normal artists into super artists and this makes the fan come here to see a show they cannot miss every single year with unknown acts with potential they all know they will enjoy!