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Mecca2Medina & British-Islamic Hip-Hop SOAS Event

Mecca2Medina members Abdul Karim, Rakin Fetuga, and Ismael Lea South

On the evening of Thursday 25th August 2022 I organised an event in the SOAS Brunei Gallery Lecture theatre to raise awareness about an ongoing documentary project I have been working on about late 1990s hip-hop group Mecca2Medina and the British-Islamic Hip-Hop movement (www.mecca2medinafilm.co.uk). Yes, there are perks to being an MA student at SOAS. Big thanks to my professor Caspar Melville for helping me do all the room and tech bookings, institutional bureaucracy is not easy.

We enjoyed beautiful live performances from Ahmad Ikhlas, MoYah, Khaled Siddiq and Mecca2Media themselves. The diversity of styles and cultures on stage was amazing to see.

We screened a 15 minute promotional film about the documentary. We were really pleased that we were able to include a 5 minute section about our time following Mecca2Medina to The Sufi Festival in Glasgow this July 2022. It was also wonderful to see director Eliot Gelberg-Wilson enjoy this work on the big screen for the first time.

We ended with a great panel discussion chaired by Muneera Pilgrim with all the performers and Eliot. We discussed what British-Islamic Hip-Hop means to the performers today, why this film is important, the taboo of music in Islam and more.

When it was all over we mingled in the foyer of the lecture theatre until 9pm.

It was a beautiful evening and made all the weeks of planning worth it!!

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