100 Weeks of Scotland: Edinburgh Mela

Since its inception in 1995 the Edinburgh Mela has grown in stature and importance each year and is now one of the main festivals in the city, and is possibly my favourite. The Mela, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘gathering’ or ‘meeting’ was originally located at Meadowbank Stadium before moving to Pilrig Park and currently Leith Links.

Week Forty Four

The event is gloriously multi-cultural and is a riot of colour, music and wonderful food. The food in itself, which ranges from middle-eastern to Asian and beyond (with the obligatory, slightly embarrassed looking burger stall), would be reason enough to visit the Mela. Combine this with dozens of stalls selling a large range of objects and clothes, fantastic facilities for kids and a diverse and energetic cultural programme of music, dance and fashion and you end up with one of the most vibrant and eclectic of all the festivals in the Festival city.

Sadly this year’s Mela had to be cut short on the final day due to unexpected high winds. As the Mela had pulled off a wonderful coup in booking The Orb to climax the festival this resulted in a lot of disappointed fans, and one very downcast and hungry photographer (me) who had planned to revisit the food area to feast on some of the amazing curries on sale.

• Alan McCredie began the ‘100 weeks of Scotland’ website in October last year, and it will conclude in Autumn 2014. McCredie’s goal is to chronicle two years of Scottish life in the run-up to the independence referendum.

McCredie says ‘one hundred weeks...’ is intended to show all sides of the country over the next two years. On the site, he says: “Whatever the result of the vote Scotland will be a different country afterward. These images will show a snapshot of the country in the run up to the referendum.

“The photos will be of all aspects of Scottish culture - politics, art, social issues, sport and anything else that catches the eye.”

You can keep up to date with the project at www.100weeksofscotland.com. You can also follow Alan on Twitter.

All pictures (c) Alan McCredie/ 100 weeks of Scotland