24 joyful photos of thousands of people turning out for the ‘fantastic’ Mela event

The Sandwell and Birmingham Mela saw thousands flock to Smethwick’s Victoria Park to attend Europe’s biggest South Asian music festival.

The two-day event was first launched in 2011 and has seen dozens of acts take to stages spread across the park.

Thousands of people turned out for the event, taking part in dancing, food, arts and crafts and endless festivities.

Gurdip Singh, 41, from Wolverhampton, visited the event with his wife and two children, he said: “It was a great event. There were a lot of people around enjoying the day, it was really brilliant.

“The food and music were amazing. The kids really enjoyed it. It’s great to see people enjoying the cultural heritage.”

Dozens of South Asia’s biggest names in the arts took to the stage, including singers Sunanda Sharma and Harshdeep Kaur, Yasir Hussain and singer-songwriter Guru Randhawa.