Muslim women's group Ulfah Arts goes global at WOMEX

Oct 26 2009 by Anna Blackaby, Birmingham Post

A Muslim women’s arts organisation from Highgate is among the West Midland companies representing the region at a prestigious music event in Copenhagen.

UK Trade & Investment, working with Advantage West Midlands, is taking a group of ten firms on a supported visit to The World Music Expo (WOMEX) in the Danish city this week to help them develop international contacts, opportunities and networks.

WOMEX brings together thousands of professionals from the worlds of folk, roots, ethnic and traditional music and also includes concerts, conferences and documentary films.

One of the West Midlands group attending is Ulfah Arts, of Highgate, Birmingham, which seeks to empower Muslim women musicians by providing them with a creative platform to find their voices and perform on stage.

The company organised a tour of the UK, Denmark and Holland after presenting a seminar on breaking down the barriers faced by Muslim women music makers at WOMEX 2008, which it attended with support from UK Trade & Investment.

Founding director Naz Koser said: “We are such a niche organisation that we realised we needed to reach a global audience of music professionals, and WOMEX is ideal for this.

“This will be our third visit and we have always had excellent support from UK Trade & Investment.

“In particular, last year’s event gave us the international investors and contacts on the ground to enable the three-country tour, which was very well received, to go ahead earlier this year.”

At WOMEX this year, the company will be promoting a specially composed piece made up of three genres – classical, jazz and experimental – with the aim of securing international funding for a collaboration with Albania.

Naz added: “We are bringing a Kosovan composer here to create a piece of music from a series of workshops in which we will be asking British Muslim women for their perspectives on issues that matter to them.

“The aim is for a group of British female Muslim artists to perform the piece in Kosovo next summer.”

Ulfah Arts was established in 2004 and has five employees.

Jonathan Webber, Director of International Trade at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is UK Trade & Investment’s West Midlands international lead for the screen image and sound business cluster.

He said: “This is a perfect example of UK Trade & Investment and Advantage West Midlands working together to showcase the world-class creative talent the West Midlands enjoys.

“WOMEX is a landmark event and is a really good vehicle for demonstrating our creative vibrancy and the diversity that underpins it.”