Paul Chand And Anjaana - Bradford Mela

Paul Chand appeared at the first Bradford Mela back in 1985 and has quite a following in the Bradford area and beyond.  The music of the band is basically Punjabi Folk with traditional Indian instruments with the addition of acoustic guitar and flute, an unusual but good sounding combination.  Paul also brought along his parents to the gig, mum is 100 years old and dad is 107 years old and I think they have been married for 80 years and are possibly the oldest married couple in the world.

Paprika - Bradford Festival

 

This is another picture from the Bradford Festival and a band by the name of Paprika. The band play an enjoyable mixture of Eastern European, Balkan, Gypsey and Classical Music and have apparently toured all over the world.

Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers - Bradford Mela

Appearing at the Bradford Mela a couple of weeks ago were Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers.  If I remember correctly they are based in Scotland but have trained in Japan under a master Taiko drummer.  The performance was absolutely stunning, with an incredibly deep, thunderous sound emanating from those enormous drums.

The Demon Barbers - Bradford Festival

I never got around to posting pictures from the Bradford Festival a fortnight ago.  I think this was my favourite band, but how to describe the performance.  Well, folk rock, but with clog dancers, hip-hop dancers and a bit of sword dancing thrown in for good measure, absolutely stunning!

The 70's Show

I was looking back  through some of the pictures that I took at the Bradford Festival recently and thought that this one could have been taken forty years ago, it must be that 1970's moustache and long hair.  What are they doing?  Just killing a bit of time before the next act comes on stage.

Mela Cancelled

I was really looking forward to the Bradford Mela today, a celebration of South Asian Culture with street theatre music and dance.  Unfortunately the event was cancelled at the last minute due to ground conditions at Peel Park.  Due to the heavy rain we have had over the last couple of weeks and with more to come, it was considered unwise to allow the event to go ahead.  I had a quick look back and came up with this picture from the Mela in 2010.  I'm going from memory here, but I think the performer had flown from Pakistan especially for this performance which involved balancing a number of those vessels on top of her head (I can't remember how many, but it was a lot).