When he bursts into 'Par Linghade', an old Punjabi folk tune given the bhangra treatment, the girls squeal. When Birmingham's superstar bhangra singer, Sukshinder Shinda, now in his mid-forties, fills the air with the sharp, thunderous rhythms from two dhol drums (the instrument synonymous with bhangra) and his cinematically heroic voice, the cheers are deafening. Family groups picnic on the grass while their unwed offspring throng the stages to dance, pose and flirt.Īt the London Flavas stage, where the Sony-award-winning BBC Radio 1 DJ, Bobby Friction, and his DJ partner, Nihal, are geeing up the crowd as if working a wedding party, I'm locked in with a group of 19- and 20-somethings from Southall and east London. Between the funfair, curry and samosa stalls, sari kiosks and kofi ice-cream sellers, are several stages and music tents. T he west London Mela which takes place every August is the British-Asian Glastonbury and the perfect place to catch up with the heroes of homegrown bhangra, the top singers from the sub-continent, and new faces on the UK-Asian dance music scene: Panjabi MC, the Panjabi Hit Squad, Jazzy B and the rest of the clan.
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