World Premiere

Saturday 8th August, the Big Top
1.45-2.45pm & 5.00-6.00pm

GOL present a new commission that explores in a moving, reflective and vibrant way the 30 year anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.  
A piece with particular resonance to the current situation but that celebrates the rich culture of the country and its people.

GOL is an exciting new Edinburgh band creating a unique sound by crossing musical boundaries between East and West (specifically UK and Iran) informed by jazz, world, pop and electronica.
For the MELA they are creating a new work combining film and music called " Mixed UP!" The new work will explore the themes of home, culture and identity for Iranian's here in Scotland , particular reflecting the feelings of Iranians exactly 30 years on since the Islamic Revolution ( 1979 - 2009). Also GOL will be creating work that reflects on the recent post election demonstrations, violence and detentions in Iran. GOL will be creating work that relfects solidarity with the people of Iran in this current crisis.
After releasing their debut album Red Earth on Artifact Records in 2006, GOL re-formed in late 2008 and are Roxana Pope on Vocals (Persian & English), Pete Vilk (Drum kit & samples), Yann Seznec (Keyboards & live sampling), Allan Ferguson (Bass), Mat Clements (Percussion) and John Burgess (Saxophones, clarinet & guitar)
For their special Mela performances, they will be joined by Boudva Vosough on Iranian Santur.
Their EP “ Roots” will be released at the end of July 2009.

Ilhan Barutcu

Saturday 8th August, Garden Stage
8.00-8.30pm

Sunday 9th August, Garden Stage
3.30-4.00pm

The music that Ilhan Barutçu plays comes from the rich legacy of Ottoman Sufi music, which flourished under the Ottoman rulers both within the royal court and within the various Sufi tekke or hane. One of the key instruments for playing this music is the ney and in Turkey the ney is closely linked to the particular mystic tradition of the Mevlevi Sufi order (the so-called whirling dervishes) who were inspired by the teachings of the 12th century Sufi mystic Mevlana Jelal al-Din Rumi.

iMap and HJ Studio, Hong Kong

Sunday 9th August, the Big Top
1.45-2.30pm

iMAP is a Scottish based chamber music company, aims to transcend the limitations of chamber/concert music through multi-artform and multimedia collaborations, community involvement and cultural diversity.

Live music showcase chinese equivalent of the bagpipe, and the duet of Yang-chin and soprano saxophone by Kimho Ip and Filip Davidse.

India Alba

Sunday 9th August, Garden Stage 6.00-7.00pm

Kick starting the final evening of the festival, India Alba are sure to get those feet tapping and those bodies burling with their blend of Scots and Indian folk music!

Kakatsitsi

Sunday 9th August, the Big Top 5.30-6.30pm

Where Africa meets London club - Kakatsitsi's cross-over between traditional Ghanian and electro beats is sure to get you up dancing.

All too often, world-dance fusion projects are characterised by a marked imbalance between the western studio/label on the one hand and the world musicians on the other. Often, the world musicians are excluded from much of the creative process, particularly the post-production - their music and culture arranged by western producers with little knowledge of traditional arrangements or the sensitivities and sensibilities the traditions demand. As a result, the end-product is invariably over-westernised, losing much of the beauty and appeal of the music in its traditional form and relegating the traditional component to the status of a mere adornment on top of a western dance beat. This reflects the underlying nature of the relationship between the west and communities of the South - the imbalance of cultural and economic power achieving expression through the music.

The Fair Trade Fusion project seeks to readdress this imbalance by empowering the participating musicians at every stage of the production, adopting production values and processes that are designed to harness the broader appeal of working with western dance music without losing much of the meaning and beauty of the traditional element. The participating live producer will adopt a supportive rather than domineering creative role, enabling the knowledge and wisdom of the traditional musicians to achieve fullest expression.

Lothian & Borders Police Choir

Sunday 9th August, Garden Stage 1.00-1.30pm

Edinburgh’s police service’s very own choir show the Mela crowds that there is more to police life than walking the beat!

Lyrikool Lipz

Sunday 9th August, Garden Stage 2.00-2.15pm & 5.30-5.45pm

Lyrikool Lipz has been working as a vocal-musician for the past seven years.

Beatboxing, rapping and singing are all elements of his full live show where he uses a looping pedal to create samples / loops of his voice to perform entirely original material, all solely by using his voice.

Singing and rapping from a younger age, Lyrikool Lipz found himself creating beats with his voice when he was 17. It went from annoying-habit to party-trick to possible Beatbox Champion.

He says that learning Beatboxing is like learning a new language.  "In the same way that you use different parts of your vocal anatomy to pronounce certain words in Spanish or German, beatboxing is an art where you learn to develop your technique and emphasis on certain vocal-sounds and then arrange them into rhythms or whatever you like.

Imran Khan

Sunday 9th August, the Big Top 7.40-8.10pm

With a huge smash hit under his belt, the Punjabi pop sensation Imran Khan, is today on the path to a long term career. The single 'Ni Nachleh' was released to see how the industry appreciated Imran Khans style of music. Not only was it well received, it went on to become a global smash hit and took Imran and his label forward. Shahid Mazhar, CEO of Prestige Records explains "Prestige Records has always been serious about launching an artist with talent and our aim is not to launch an artist for today but an artist with that would remain in the industry for a very long period. The single 'Ni Nachleh' was unbelievable and we really hit the ground running. At the time we didn't have an album but now I am 100% confident that the new single 'Amplifier' and album 'Unforgettable' are going to cement Imran Khan's place in the Asian pop sphere".

Mona Singh

Saturday 8th August, the Big Top 7.15-8.00pm

Laying claim to the title ‘Princess of Bhangra’, Mona Singh has become one of Britain’s most sought after young artists in the business and enjoys one of the highest profiles of any Bhangra personality.
The source of this unique gem in the music world is the artist credited with changing the face of the Bhangra scene, the legendary Channi Singh (lead singer of Bhangra band ‘Alaap’ – Pioneers of the British Asian music scene and Bollywood music director for films such as ‘Yalgaar’, ‘Shaktiman’, ‘Janasheen’ and ‘Mr Bhatti on Chutti’, to name but a few).
Entering the world with a silver microphone in her mouth, it was inevitable that Mona would follow in her father’s rhythmic footsteps and take to the stage and recording studios in a big way. The daughter of Channi Singh has made her own mark in an industry so comfortably dominated by her father since she was ever born and has shown the guys that a lady can also rock the Bhangra industry.
Mona has released 3 successful albums to date; ‘THE BEGINNING – AKHIYAAN VICH YAAR VASDA’, ‘THE SECOND CHAPTER – KANKAAN DE OHLE’ and more recently ‘STRONGER’, all which have enjoyed the number 1 position in the Asian music charts. Mona and her father Channi Singh have composed, arranged and produced each album, showcasing their outstanding joint efforts.
We are sure Mona is going to get the Saturday night of the Edinburgh Mela into a party mood.

Nathan Zaake

Sunday 9th August, Garden Stage 2.15-2.45pm

A fresh and talented young musician from Uganda with traditional and contemporary music from the country.

Nathan is a 24 year old musician form Uganda. Through his music he promotes the Ethnic Folk Cultural of his country and East Africa. He has a developed a wide repetoire of traditonal music and uses a range of indiginous instruments including woodwinds, strings, aerophones and percussions. He has also performed with other traditional music troupes and tours regularly across Uganda an also internationally. He has performed in Kenya, Rwanda, Spain, France, Macedonia, Austria, U.S.A (texas) and Trinidad and Tobago. Nathan also conducts workshops on African Ethnic Music,Dance and Instrumentation.as well as making African Ethnic Musical Instruments.

Patiala Pakistani Pipe Band

Saturday 8th August,
Garden Stage 4.15-4.45pm

Favourites from previous Melas, all the way from Lahore,
the band usually have a following when they parade
trough the festival site!

Pulse of the Place
(Youth Samba)

Saturday 8th August, Garden Stage
3.00-3.15pm & 5.45-6.00pm

Pulse of the Place are a youth samba drumming group from Leith. They are regular performers at the Mela and last year assembled a 40 piece band for the event.

Pulse of the Place are a youth led samba drumming band based at Duncan Place Resource Centre in Leith. The band has an age range of 7yrs to 19yrs and can perform with anything from 5 to 40 members and is supported by Community Learning & Development Worker (City of Edinburgh Council). Over the last few years the band have performed at numerous community events, been regular performers at the Mela Festival, taken part in Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade, the Liverpool Samba Carnival, the Lord Mayors Parade in Liverpool, the Leith Pageant and were the opening act at the Young Edinburgh Awards and the City of Edinburgh Council’s Fanfare concert.

Panjabi Hit Squad with Alyssia

Scottish Premiere

Sunday 9th August, the Big Top 8.00-9.00pm

Panjabi Hit Squad have been right at the forefront of British-Asian music since their formation in the summer of 2001 with a new genre that fused Bhangra with Street music: 'Desi Beats'.

In 2004 the squad were also nominated for ‘Best Club DJ’ at the MOBO Awards & nominated for ‘Best Urban Act’ at the EMMA Awards. The Squad were part of the original launch line-up of BBC’s Black Music station 1Xtra and in the years since have built a show that has carved a reputation for breaking Home grown British-Asian talent and winning Awards to boost, taking the 'Best Specialist Radio Show' at the Asian Music Awards in 2004 and 2005.

In 2007 Panjabi Hit Squad started work on Alyssia’s debut album, In addition to working on Alyssia’s album they spent time in America recording with various Rappers and Artists for their album ‘Not For Duplication’. In August Panjabi hit squad got another radio show on BBC Asian Network each and every Saturday afternoon. In an interview in Music Week Magazine they quoted Panjabi Hit Squad being "one of the top 10 UK Urban DJ’s".
Two Radio shows, two awards and three successful albums later Panjabi Hit Squad has returned in 2008 to the studio to record their long overdue fourth album.

We look forward to welcoming them to The Edinburgh Mela for the first time.

Joga, Surrinder Rattan and Roachkilla

Sunday 9th August, the Big Top 8.10-8.30pm

Joga
Joga is set to release his album this summer and has appeared on numerous compilations including Roachkillas new album "REVOLUTION" and Surinder Rattans ( THE LICK2). Joga combines Sufi and Desi to fantastic effect and has also performed for the BBC UK UNI Tours across the country. Joga has an electrifying presence on stage and his a sure hit this summer @ the melas across the country.

Surinder Rattan
Hailing from the streets of Manchester, One of the Pioneers in the UK Asian Music Industry Surinder Rattan first came to the attention of many when he released the 'The Lick' and delivered the pioneering track 'Tappe '. Surinder has been voted Best Bhangra Dj (Back 2 Basix DJs) at the Asian DJ Awards and is said to be one of the hottest Brit Asian music producers (nominated for best producer @ the UKAMA awards ) around supporting semi-classical training from his Ustads 'Babbar & Javed Niazi Khan' sons of Ustad Tufail Niazi Khan folk legend from Pakistan.

RoachKilla
At the age of 12, Roach was introduced to the life of urban music and from the first sounds of reggae, he fell in love with the culture. Roach Killa has been touring Europe, Asia and Middleast promoting his music and has created a massive fan base around the world. His songs have been play listed on all the commercial radio stations across Europe. His song "Talkin" was released by EMI/Virgin UK on the Dancehall Selecta CD alongside other artists such as Sean Paul, Beenie Man, Elephant Man etc . He recently collaborated with Surinder Rattan & Shin (DCS) which went to No1 In the BBC Asian Music charts and Video Charts and also Spragga Benz, an international Reggae Superstar from Jamaica, Apache Indian, a muliti platinum selling artist from the UK, for his debut Album titled "REVOLUTION".

Tigerstyle

Sunday 9th August, the Big Top 7.00-7.40pm

Glasgow's brother double act take to the Edinburgh Mela stage for the first time!

“They are without doubt the next Asian/Bhangra act that will break through into the mainstream - it is only a question of time.” (Bobby Friction BBC Radio 1)
Coming from a traditional background where religious adherence was the call of the day and learning to play instruments from a young age so that they could perform at their local temple have now turned this young Sikh outfit into the most sought after act.
Recently signed to Nachural Records (the label that launched Panjabi MC onto the world stage and into a global hit), Tigerstyle are now preparing their debut single and debut album for a worldwide release.

Young Fathers

Saturday 8th August, the Big Top 8.15-9.00pm

Up and coming exciting Hip Hop Fusion group being tipped for big things - catch them now at the close of the Saturday night in the Big Top!

Zawadi Women's Choir

Saturday 8th August, Garden Stage 5.00-5.30pm

Traditional African song from these Edinburgh based women.

Africa Centre Scotland exists to unite the people of African heritage living in Edinburgh and Lothain so that they are able to form a strong vice, raise their profile, influence decision making, and improve their health, cultural and socio-economic wellbeing while at the same time contributing to the wider society within which they reside.
The service users of ACS are all peoples to African heritage and all those who share African values.
Full individual membership of ACS is open to all people of African descent and their families residing in Edinburgh and the Lothian. Associate Individual Membership is open to anyone who shares the aims and objectives of ACS whilst youth membership is open to young people.

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