Belfast Mela 2015

30 August 15 - Picture by Darren Kidd / Press Eye. Magical Mela Hits the Right Notes. For the ninth year in succession Belfast Mela transformed Botanic Gardens to create a unique global get-together filled with music, dance, food, fashion, cuisine and crafts. The dazzling day of diversity held over 25,000 visitors spell bound as they joined in Northern Ireland’s largest celebration of world culture.  Organised annually by award winning ArtsEkta the party got off to a magnificent start with a massive carnival procession featuring a spectacular 16ft high Dhol drumming puppet and the Province’s first professionally trained group of Dhol drummers in Ireland – giving audiences a drum-believable musical experience. Specially commissioned carnival creations, scores of community participants, musicians and dancers from around the world added colour and impact leading audiences into the heart of magnificent Mela. From babies in buggies to grand and great grandparents the unique global get-together had the whole park bouncing!  A new addition to this year’s Mela, Little Bollywood, was specially created for babies, toddlers and young children – under the expert direction of the South Asian Dance Group they soon had the adults dancing, wiggling their fingers and bouncing alongside the wee ones! A constant crowd-pleaser was the Fantasy Forest where a garden of flowers magically came to life telling the story of the fantasy world of Alice through the Looking Glass. World music and dance filled the stages and brought crowds to their feet in appreciation while the sights, smells sounds and tastes of the great big beautiful world combined to makes this year’s Mela a kaleidoscope of wonderful images making it a unique and memorable occasion for all those who shared the Mela experience. Issued on behalf of Belfast Mela By Future Image For further information contact Sally Gardiner on 02890423314 or 07768428820 Email: sgardiner@futureimage.co.uk

L-R Mukesh Sharma MBE DL, Jeremy Adams, Jennifer McCann Junior Minister, Dr Nigel Carr DL, Alderman Guy Spence Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast.

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