Sama Festival reaches vibrant climax of culture

Oct 13 2008 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal

ANY autumn blues were lost in a sea of colour in Gateshead’s Baltic Square yesterday as the second Sama (South Asian Music and Arts) Festival came to a close.

The curtain came down on the six-day cultural celebration with an all-day spectacular, featuring music, dancing, culinary wonder and demonstrations of authentic folk and tribal arts.

This year’s event promised to be bigger and better than last year’s inaugural success, and it seems to have hit the spot if yesterday’s crowds were anything to go by.

Since proceedings got under way last weekend, the festival has offered a whirl of performances – Nritarutya Dance Company, bamboo flute virtuoso Shashank and Nitin Sawnhey to name but three – exhibitions, workshops, literature events and film screenings.

Yesterday saw a melting pot of entertainment coming together for the festival’s culmination including Jazzy B, Imran Khan and, Britain’s Got Talent finalists, Signature.