Poetic Pilgrimage
Encyclopedia
Poetic Pilgrimage is a British
Muslim
hip-hop duo founded in 2002. It is one of only a very few female Muslim musical groups.
Poetic Pilgrimage is a female Hip Hop and Spoken Word duo who wish to take the world by storm with their sounds, lyrics and individual, personal characters. They are a rare act, being one of the few Muslim female Hip Hop artists around and express themselves through the art of rhyme, covering personal, social issues / themes whilst also working to ensure that they do not compromise their personal beliefs.
background and converted to Islam in 2005.
Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor were both born in Bristol
to Jamaican
parents, and have been performing together as Poetic Pilgrimage for 7 years now. The early part of their career saw them as favourites on the London poetry circuit where they performed alongside some of the biggest names often to standing ovations and they have become forerunners in the UK Muslim Hip Hop scene, bridging the gap between their community and the wider Hip Hop and music scene.
and Caribbean Studies from London Metropolitan University
, she was also the editor of a Muslim Hip Hop magazine and hosts a lifestyle Show on Islam Channel
. She organises a monthly Poetry event in West London and she has been conducting workshops for over one year. Sukina is married to Mohammed Yahya who is also a Spoken Word
Artist / Rapper
and is part of the band called Lines of Faith.
Muneera Rashida: (born Tanya Williams) holds a BA Degree from the University of Westminster
in Creative Media Practice where her expertise lay in the field of Video Production and Film Studies. Muneera is also an event organiser where she mentors young upcoming artists giving career and performance advice. Muneera is also a youth mentor and has worked in various youth clubs.
Connecticut during their first American tour in March - April 2009.
In addition Poetic Pilgrimage are workshop facilitators and value the ability to teach Poetry and Hip Hop to a younger generation with the aim of being able to enable them change their realities, so they also incorporate their workshops with their music shows in the countries they travel to. Through their workshops they tackle various social issues and aim to counteract the negative impact of some of these using Hip Hop and Grime. As young Muslim women of African-Caribbean heritage they challenge stereotypes and inspire others to do the same.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
hip-hop duo founded in 2002. It is one of only a very few female Muslim musical groups.
Poetic Pilgrimage is a female Hip Hop and Spoken Word duo who wish to take the world by storm with their sounds, lyrics and individual, personal characters. They are a rare act, being one of the few Muslim female Hip Hop artists around and express themselves through the art of rhyme, covering personal, social issues / themes whilst also working to ensure that they do not compromise their personal beliefs.
Background
Poetic Pilgrimage is made up of members Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor. Both ladies are of the Afro-CaribbeanBritish African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
background and converted to Islam in 2005.
Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor were both born in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
to Jamaican
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
parents, and have been performing together as Poetic Pilgrimage for 7 years now. The early part of their career saw them as favourites on the London poetry circuit where they performed alongside some of the biggest names often to standing ovations and they have become forerunners in the UK Muslim Hip Hop scene, bridging the gap between their community and the wider Hip Hop and music scene.
Biography
Sukina Abdul Noor: (born Yashima Douglas) holds a BA (Hons) Degree in English LiteratureEnglish literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and Caribbean Studies from London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University , located in London, England, was formed on 1 August 2002 by the amalgamation of the University of North London and the London Guildhall University . The University has campuses in the City of London and in the London Borough of Islington.The University operates its...
, she was also the editor of a Muslim Hip Hop magazine and hosts a lifestyle Show on Islam Channel
Islam Channel
Islam Channel is a UK-based, free-to-air, English language, Islamic-focused satellite television channel funded by advertising and donations. It was reported in 2008 that UK government research found that 97.3% of Muslims watched the channel...
. She organises a monthly Poetry event in West London and she has been conducting workshops for over one year. Sukina is married to Mohammed Yahya who is also a Spoken Word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
Artist / Rapper
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
and is part of the band called Lines of Faith.
Muneera Rashida: (born Tanya Williams) holds a BA Degree from the University of Westminster
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
in Creative Media Practice where her expertise lay in the field of Video Production and Film Studies. Muneera is also an event organiser where she mentors young upcoming artists giving career and performance advice. Muneera is also a youth mentor and has worked in various youth clubs.
History
Their intention is to make progressive Hip Hop music that fuses their African and Caribbean roots with their musical tastes such as Jazz, Afrobeat, Soul and beyond, providing a novel backdrop to their message of peace, unity, interfaith relations and freedom. They have travelled to various countries particularly Europe (and also hope to travel more frequently to Africa) where the spirit of Hip Hop still exists and have collaborated and worked with artists of the same genre but they also hope to fuse Hip Hop with more traditional sounds from countries such as Senegal, Mali and Morocco. Poetic Pilgrimage have already begun to realise this ambition of theirs by collaborating with musical artists of other faiths. November 2009 saw them collaborate and perform alongside Kavona, a Jewish musical band under the name of YALLA to produce sounds which fused Hip Hop, Spoken Word, Jewish folk music with lyrics in English, Arabic and Yiddish. November 2009 has also seen them perform in mainland Europe in Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK. They have also performed in the US. Poetic Pilgrimage are the first UK Artist to have performed at The International Trinity FestivalTrinity International Hip Hop Festival
The Trinity International Hip Hop Festival is a free music festival that brings together Hip Hop artists from around the world. It has been held annually at Trinity College in Hartford, CT since 2006...
Connecticut during their first American tour in March - April 2009.
In addition Poetic Pilgrimage are workshop facilitators and value the ability to teach Poetry and Hip Hop to a younger generation with the aim of being able to enable them change their realities, so they also incorporate their workshops with their music shows in the countries they travel to. Through their workshops they tackle various social issues and aim to counteract the negative impact of some of these using Hip Hop and Grime. As young Muslim women of African-Caribbean heritage they challenge stereotypes and inspire others to do the same.
Discography
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Freedom Times |
| 2010 | Starwomen Mixtape |
| 2011 | Silence is Consent (with Mohammed Yahya) |
Television appearances
- BBC2: Desi DNA
- ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
: "The Muslim Jesus". This documentary showed them performing "Modern Day Marys", which is a tribute to Muslim women likening them to Mary, mother of Jesus. - Al JazeeraAl JazeeraAl Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
: Everywoman - Norwegian National TV
- Swedish National TV
- Islam ChannelIslam ChannelIslam Channel is a UK-based, free-to-air, English language, Islamic-focused satellite television channel funded by advertising and donations. It was reported in 2008 that UK government research found that 97.3% of Muslims watched the channel...
: City Sisters, Behind the Veil - Press TVPress TVPress TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....
: Nexus
Press coverage
- New NationNew NationThis article is about the British newspaper, which is not to be confused with the Apartheid-era New Nation published in Johannesburg, South Africa or the satirical publication in Singapore....
- Eastern EyeEastern Eye (newspaper)Eastern Eye is a British weekly newspaper. It was created in 1989 and was first published by The Guardian, before becoming a standalone newspaper.The company behind Eastern Eye changed several times since its foundation by Sarwar Ahmed...
- New StatesmanNew StatesmanNew Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
: - Al-Ahram WeeklyAl-Ahram WeeklyAl-Ahram Weekly is an Egyptian English-language weekly broadsheet printed by the Al-Ahram Publishing House in Cairo, Egypt.It was established in 1991 by the Al-Ahram newspaper, which also runs a French-language weekly version, Al-Ahram Hebdo....
: - The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
: - NRK (Norway):
- Emel
- The Platform Magazine
- Hip Hop ConnectionHip Hop ConnectionHip Hop Connection is the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture. HHC has earned international recognition and was described by Chuck D as "the best magazine in the world".-History:...
- Muslim Views
External links
- Poetic Pilgrimage page on FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
- http://www.starwomenmixtape.com /