The Boishakhi Mela ( bn, বৈশাখী মেলা, Boishakhi Mela, Fair of

Boishakh Boishakh (, ne, बैशाख, ''Bôishakh'', ''Baishakh'') is the first month in the Assamese calendar, Bengali calendar and Nepali calendar. This month lies between the second half of April and the first half of May. Etymology The name of ...

) is a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

celebration ( mela) which takes place outside of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. It is celebrated by the

Bangladeshi diaspora The Bangladeshi diaspora ( bn, প্রবাসী বাংলাদেশী) are people of Bangladeshi birth or descent who live outside of Bangladesh. First-generation migrants may have moved abroad from Bangladesh for various reasons in ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

as well as many other countries with significant Bangladeshi populations. In

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, it takes place across the area of

Banglatown Brick Lane (Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest ...

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

. The festival runs through

Brick Lane Brick Lane (Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest ...

to Weavers Fields and Allen Gardens in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common land, Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heat ...

. The event is a celebration of the

Bengali New Year Pohela Boishakh ( bn, পহেলা বৈশাখ) is the first day of the Bengali calendar which is also the official calendar of Bangladesh. This festival is celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in the Indian states of We ...

, with musical and cultural events held. It is the largest open-air Asian festival in Europe and the largest

festival outside of

. After the

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

, it is the second-largest street festival in the

attracting over 80,000 visitors from across the country. Although the

falls on 14/15 April (

Pohela Boishakh Pohela Boishakh ( bn, পহেলা বৈশাখ) is the first day of the Bengali calendar which is also the official calendar of Bangladesh. This festival is celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in the Indian states of We ...

in the

Bengali calendar The Bengali Calendar or Bangla Calendar ( bn, বঙ্গাব্দ , , Baṅgābda), colloquially ( bn, বাংলা সন, Baṅgla Śon), is a solar calendar used in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. A revised version of th ...

), the festival is held in the second weekend of May on a Sunday to avoid the period of higher risk of rain during the month of April. Having started in 1997, the 10th anniversary of the mela was celebrated in 2007.

History

The Boishakhi Mela was launched in

located in

borough - the most populated Bangladeshi area outside of

. It is a celebration of the

and has been celebrated by the

British Bangladeshi British Bangladeshis ( bn, বিলাতী বাংলাদেশী, Bilatī Bangladeshī) are people of Bangladeshi origin who have attained citizenship in the United Kingdom, through immigration and historical naturalisation. The term ...

community since 1997. The original event based in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

is called

. The festival was created for the purpose of the

living in the UK. It was organised by the local people, and is now managed by the Boishakhi Mela Trust Ltd, a non-profit organisation. The Boishakhi Mela is a unique festival, which has been created by a generation of Bangladeshi people who want to celebrate the Bengali New Year. It inspires the

to be more creative during the arrival of the event, through the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

and the

presentation A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...

skills of excellent and innovative ideas through participation in the Boishakhi Mela, including the stage planning, music and dancing. Other than creating the event for the purposes of celebrations for the community, it also aims to gain

recognition Recognition may refer to: *Award, something given in recognition of an achievement Machine learning *Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below Biometric * Recognition of human individuals, or biomet ...

of fellow

Bengalis Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the ...

in the West, by providing

Bengali culture The culture of Bengal defines the cultural heritage of the Bengali people native to eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, mainly what is today Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, where the Bengali language is th ...

, and by encouraging them to participate in the event as well as recognising the Bangladeshi presence in the area. Also providing the people the skills and opportunities for the young aspirations as well as professional artists to perform their music or dances. Previously

Bangla TV Bangla TV ( bn, বাংলা টিভি) is a Bengali-language satellite television channel based in the United Kingdom and Bangladesh. It was established in the United Kingdom on 16 September 1999, targeting Bengali audiences both there an ...

was the main broadcaster of the Boishakhi Mela event, however since 2005,

Channel S Channel S is a UK-based, free-to-air television channel targeting the British Bangladeshi community. The channel was established on 16 December 2004 by Mahee Ferdous Jalil, a Bangladeshi businessman in London. On Sky it at first had a timesha ...

has acquired the rights to broadcast the event due to its commitment to the community (the slogan is ''working for the community''), achieving popular support from the main sponsors within the community.

Procession in London

The event starts first during the morning from 12am at Allen Gardens, through

and ends in Weavers Fields. This is known as the Grand Parade, where there are women and children dressed in colourful traditional clothes and masks. There will also be musicians or drummers, including dancers and also the leaders from the community. During the 2008 Mela, a great emperor was leading the parade symbolising the traditional landlord (

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

) of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

, along with a tiger, an elephant on wheels,

rickshaws A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...

, and many others.

, which is home to many Bangladeshi-owned Indian restaurants, serves curry along the streets for the visitors, with traditional

Bengali cuisine Bengali cuisine ( bn, বাঙ্গালী রন্ধনপ্রণালী) is the culinary style of Bengal, a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent encompassing Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura ...

meals, and cooked by prominent chefs from

. After the parade, it will finally progress into the music programme where there will be famous music artists from

and the UK, dancers and actors performing on stages. The four stages will host Bengali music, theatre including

Sylheti Sylheti may refer to: * Sylhetis, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group in the Sylhet division and South Assam * Sylheti language, a language of the Sylheti region * Sylheti Nagri Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nagari ( syl, , ISO: , ), known in cla ...

drama, and there will also be dance displays throughout the day. The music performed features a wide range of Bengali music, these include

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

Bengali or

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

, as well as

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

contemporary music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...

, and

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

in Bengali and Sylheti.

2009: Tower Hamlets council

Since 2009, the management and planning of the mela was undertaken by the Tower Hamlets Council for the long-term, who called the event "a Boishakhi Mela in Banglatown Brick Lane". It was held on 10 May 2009, attracting up to 95,000 people which is a record high of the event. There were more than 250 school children, dancers, musicians and community groups which participated in the event alongside a mechanical Bengali tiger and the Bangla Queen, which is a four-metre tall peacock structure. The mela also included with nearly 200 stalls serving Bengali spices, food and drinks. It featured many popular artists from Bangladesh and the UK, such as Momtaz, Kajol Dewan and Nukul Kumar. Popular among the younger generation was

Mumzy Stranger Muhammad Mumith Ahmed ( bn, মুহাম্মদ মুমিথ আহমেদ; born 18 January 1984), known professionally as Mumzy Stranger or his producing name SP (an abbreviation of Stranger Productions), is a British rapper, singer, ...

, who was a leading MC and DJ in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. Other guest singers included

Lucy Rahman Lucy Rahman ( bn, লুসি রহমান) is a Bangladeshi-born United Kingdom, British singing, singer. Early life Rahman was born in Dhaka, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) into a family of famous musicians, artists and poets. From the ag ...

, Kala Miah and others. The stages were hosted by Adil Ray, Shawkat Hashmi, Kan D Man and many more. The main sponsors of the event were

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

and

.BBC – Asian Network – Events – Boishakhi Mela
BBC Asian Network (BBC). Retrieved on 2011-05-07.

Gallery

File:Baishakhi Mela 2009.jpg File:BOISHAKHEE MELA.jpg File:Baishakhi Mela 2009 2.jpg File:Baishakhi Mela 2009 3.jpg File:Baishakhi Mela 2009 4.jpg File:Baishakhi Mela 2009 5.jpg File:Baishakhi Mela 2009 6.jpg File:Mela crowd.jpg Image:Taj Stores Coconuts.jpg Image:Mela dancers.jpg Image:Sharlene dancer.jpg Image:Mela 1.JPG Image:Crowds_in_the_Baishakhi_Mela_Big_Tent.jpg Image:Mela crowds.JPG

References

Baishakhi

The Baishakhi Mela
BBC. 2005-06-06.
Banglatown spices it up for New Year at the Baishakhi Mela
The Londoner. May 2006.
Baishakhi Mela
Your London. May 2007.
Baishakhi Mela: Bengali New Year
The London Paper. 2007-05-10.
Magic in the rain
Tower Hamlets. 2007-05-21.

External links