Pop-up performances, music and Bollywood dance will be bringing a flavour of South Asian culture to venues across Newcastle and Gateshead this summer with the return of the popular Masala Festival.
The programme of events will extend to a range of places and spaces over seven days of entertainment which also will include films, workshops and demonstrations alongside a vibrant mix of music, exhibitions and food. Vikas Kumar, director of GemArts which celebrates the rich culture of South Asia, revealed that the festival - which will run from July 17-23 - will involve regional, national and international artists in what he called "a stellar line-up".
Vikas founded Gateshead-based GemArts - which launched the first Masala Festival in 2016 - and received and MBE in 2017 for his services to arts and culture and he has seen the festival grow into an award-winning hit. This year's event will launch with a visit from Sonia Sabri Company to Dance City in Newcastle on July 17 with a performance of Roshni - a Persian word meaning light or brilliance - which is billed as a joyous journey of dance and live music.
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On the same day, Gateshead Central Library will host a day of tote bag printing, where people can create designs from patterns and motifs inspired by South Asian superstitions and storytelling, and a week of foody treats will get under way at Dabbawal restaurants as the street food kitchen teams up once again with the festival.
Other events during the week will include meditation and Buddhism classes; craft activities and a poetry night while host venues will range from the Cluny 2 in Newcastle - where a music performance will fuse blues guitar, Hindustani slide guitar and tabla rhythms - to Sage Gateshead where, as part of BBC Proms, there will be a late-night performance by British jazz scene favourites Yazz Ahmed and Arun Ghosh.
Baltic and Tyneside Cinema will be showing films and the Masala Festival week will be rounded off on July 23 with a drop-in Mini Mela at Bensham Grove in Gateshead with a book fair, music, performances and join-in sessions. On the Saturday before, July 22, the same venue will be hosting a morning Bollywood dance workshop with dance styles from Indian film industry mixing Indian classical dance, folk dance, Bhangra, hip hop, salsa, jazz and belly dancing.
Other host venues will be Newcastle Buddhist Centre; The Newbridge Project and the Culture Lab at Newcastle University. Some of the week's events are free and drop-in; others have a cost and need to be booked. For the full programme of what's on and where see the festival website here.
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