Tag : Runner Up

Billed as 'the Muslim Madonna' by The Sun newspaper, Deeyah is a Pakistani-Norwegian singer activist. Her controversial lyrics about free speech and women's rights have outraged ultra-conservative elements within the Muslim community. Deeyah and her family have been the targets of death threats and...

The Thai people have fled persecution by the Burmese junta and are now living in refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border. The women who make up The Kumjing Storytellers have created 'The Journey of Kumjing' as a performance piece in which they can talk about their situation and assert their...

After the fall of the Taliban, Sheenkai Alam Stanikzai, who has grown up never listening to music or seeing a live play, is bravely attempting to reintroduce her country and people to the arts and their culture. Sheenkai's work explores the re-emergence of the Afghan spirit after years of...

Ayat Al-Gormezi, a 20 year old poet and student at the Faculty of Teachers in Bahrain, was put on trial for merely expressing her opinion peacefully and openly. She was arrested in February 2011 because she recited a poem which criticised government policy in Pearl Square. Ayat was subjected to...

Ramy Essam began the 25th January Revolution in Egypt purely as a participant, a responsibility he felt happy to undertake, but was soon called upon by his fellow protesters to provide a soundtrack to their struggles and was quickly labelled as the ‘singer of the revolution’. He rose to...

Basal’ya Bazoba uses musical theatre, rap and drama to address the persecution of child witches in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that is struggling to rebuild itself after decades of conflict. Having played to over100,000 people, this troupe has encouraged open discussions on the...

The 5th Brigade, also referred to as the ‘Gukurahundi’, are renowned for atrocities committed in Zimbabwe in the 1980s under Robert Mugabe. Communities are still nervous about discussing the incident publicly or commemorating the missing.