Glasgow Mela's bringing culture to Kelvingrove

Scotland's biggest free multicultural festival will again run in Kelvingrove Park this weekend.

The event, which has been running since 1990, celebrates the cultures and cuisines of countries around the world.

"Glasgow is a very diverse city now, so is Scotland," said Harminder Berman, the event's producer.

"Mela is the Sanskrit word for 'meet'," he explained, "so the idea is to make a meeting place where all of the communities can come together.

"It was a South Asian thing, but we thought we'd expand it. We want to bring the culture of the world onto Kelvingrove. It caters to everybody.

"This year we have a group from Africa coming, and they'll be performing. We have Greeks and Cypriots performing too. There's a lot of India and Pakistan too, so it's a mixed bag.

"We've had people from all over the world phone us, and they said 'we've heard so many good things about Mela, can we come and perform?'

"We try to accommodate everybody and now it's become a sought-after event."

"Well this year we have a group from Africa coming. They'll be performing. We have the Greeks and the Cypriots performing too. There's a lot of India and Pakistan too, so it's a mixed bag.

The success of previous years means the festival has now become a globally-known event.

"We've had people from all over the world phone us," says Harminder, "and they said 'We've heard so many good things about Mela, can we come and perform?'

"We try to accommodate everybody and now it's become a sought-after event."

There's going to be hundreds of performers across three stages, from noon until 8pm on Sunday night.

But, it isn't just dancers and singers, there's going to be sport stalls, food trucks, and pop-up clothes shops.

"India and Pakistan seems to dwell on cricket. They tend to forget there are other sports too. As you know from the 2014 Commonwealth Games, people have been attracted to different sports, like cycling.

We are trying to encourage women from the Asian community to get involved. It's trying to get them involved in other sports, instead of only cricket and hockey.

The food is a very important part of the festival. The reason for that is because it's a family day, people like to go out and eat together."

Councillor Christina Cannon, Chair of the Glasgow Mela steering group, said: “The Glasgow Mela is a glorious celebration of the many cultures and communities of the city.

"Over more than a quarter of a century hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the Glasgow Mela to celebrate our shared culture and diversity and thousands more will join us on Sunday.

"It will be a day full of joy, music, and dance that will be a brilliant showcase of modern Glasgow."