Mohammed Yahya
Website:
http://www.myspace.com/mohammedyahya
Origin: Mozambique/Portugal/UK
Bio:
Mohammed Yahya is a Mozambican born Rapper who was forced to leave his country during civil war. Having moved to Portugal, the young Mohammed yahya began to show an interest in music, partly due to his father’s influence as a singer. Being surrounded by poverty, Mohammed yahya used music and poetry to channel his thoughts, energy and emotion in a positive manner. Early influences were from African music such as Kizomba, Funana and Marabenta. Later, having moved to London, Mohammed yahya become involved in various Hip Hop groups such as M.U.M.M.Y.A’S and Geneva Konvention. After Geneva Konvention spilt Mohammed yahya and Iron braydz formed Blind Alphabetz, to focus their musical attention on. The conscious and politically charged duo has been likened to Public Enemy among others and supported acts such as: Guru, Dead Prez and Saigon. In late 2007 Mohammed Yahya released his first album “Luvolution” alongside Iron Braydz, featuring some of the most respected artists in UK, and U.S. In early 2008 Blind Alphabetz spilt up and Mohammed yahya decided to pursue his solo career as well as involve himself in artistic activism. He is one of the founders of Rebel Muzik Arts foundation, who put out a compilation cd in 2004, and a monthly Hip Hop, spoken word poetry night in London. Mohammed Yahya is highly involved in interfaith work and alongside Daniel Silverstein started the 1st ever Muslim/Jewish Hip Hop collective in U.K. He is also the president of Speech for Peace, an organisation that aims to create a positive movement that will inspire all communities to work together towards constructive engagement between one another exemplifying understanding and compassion in the work for social justice and human dignity beyond the barriers of religion, ethnicity and nationality. Mohammed Yahya has received a great deal of publicity due to his positive artistic activism and has been featured in BBC, Channel 5 news, Islam Channel, Peace TV, Channel U just to name a few TV stations as well as respected publications such as : New Nation newspaper, Hip Hop Connection, Platform Magazine, Emel. His music has been played across the world and he has been invited to perform in England, Scotland, Morocco, Mozambique, Norway and Sweden. Mohammed Yahya impressively delivers soulful street poetry with hair raising honesty in both Portuguese and English allowing him to reach a wide audience across the world.
CONFIRMED: Lines of Faith will perform at the 2009 Trinity International Hip Hop Festival. Jewish emcee Daniel Silverstein will join Mohammed Yahya on stage as the duo unify over religious and cultural boundaries.
• Lines of Faith is a unique collaboration put together by Mohammed Yahya and Danny Raphael.
• Both artists are committed practitioners of their respective religions – Mohammed is a Muslim and Daniel is Jewish.
• Lines of Faith is a fusion of Islamic and Jewish ideas, words and music with jazz, blues, reggae, funk and hip hop.
• Both Daniel and Mohammed are also youth-workers and creative educators who have been involved in community work for many years, and also offer creative workshops for young people involving poetry and rap.
• Lines of Faith carry a strong Universalist message of peace and unity which appeals as much to those of other and no faiths as to devout Muslims and Jews.
• Lines of Faith is a project focused on bringing the ancient traditions of both peoples alive in a way that highlights the common ground of the two communities as well as all humanity – something that seems very necessary in the current climate!
• As well as playing festivals across the UK and overseas, Lines of Faith are committed to performing at as many campuses as possible to promote their much-needed message of peace and unity.
• Mohammed and Daniel enjoy running rap/poetry workshops in schools, community centres and camps for young people – please contact us for more info on linesoffaith@gmail.com.
Website: www.myspace.com/linesoffaith
