Copenhagen, Denmark
10 September 2010

The Eid Festival marking the ending of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, was organized in Copenhagen for the second year in a row with the aim to show the cultural richness of Denmark. The British Council had a stand during the Eid Festival where visitors could learn about the Our Shared Europe project and send Eid e-greetings to their friends. The British Council also co-organised two festival events – a performance by the Poetic Pilgrimage Muslim hip-hop duo and a debate on Islam and the West.

Performance by Poetic Pilgrimage

Poetic Pilgrimage is a charismatic British Muslim hip-hop and spoken word duo, and one of very few female Muslim musical groups.

It is a forerunner of Islamic hip-hop, a new style of urban music that is becoming increasingly popular among young British Muslims.

The Copenhagen Eid Festival audience - that despite a heavy rain gathered for the Poetic Pilgrimage recital - cheered and clapped their hands in appreciation of their performance.  Poetic Pilgrimage was brought to Denmark by the British Council in partnership with VerdensKulturCentret and Tavse Stemmer (Missing Voices).

Photo: Poetic Pilgrimage performing during the in Copenhagen Eid Festival

Debate on Islam and the West: Interreligious and intercultural understanding

The speakers in the debate were Monika Gabriela Dąbrowska, a PhD candidate from St Andrews who explores the social consequences of religious conversions to Islam and Neeni Rasool, the chair and spokeswoman for Critical Muslims, an organisation working for a democratic and pluralistic approach to Islam and religious diversity.  The debate was moderated by Sherin Khankan from Critical Muslims and created a lot of response from the audience who contributed many valid comments and interesting questions.

An impression from the debate - Neeni Rasool from Critical Muslims presents her views on intercultural understanding: