Blog

  For 10 days, MaerzMusik will present its program of unusual musical experiences at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and other locations around the city. This year's edition is titled "Time Wars," and explores our relationships with time through various artistic media and a conference, "Thinking Together." The festival's program is a reflection of current pressing issues – climate change, digitalization, migration – and opened on Friday with a German […]

  Culture historian and 2016 MacArthur "Genius" grant recipient Josh Kun says although there's no "magic science" to figuring out a city, there are at least three types of places he visits from the outset: bookstores, record stores, and stationery stores. Plus, he eats out – preferably street food. Originally from Los Angeles, Kun is in Berlin as a Bosch Fellow in Public Policy at the American Academy and is […]

  At 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night, 200 students from all over the world will be taking the stage at the RBB Große Sendesaal in Berlin for the annual High School Honor Choirs Festival. The festival was established by the Association for Music in International Schools (AMIS) and has taken place annually since 1976. The event gives participating students the opportunity to work with renowned conductors and to travel to […]

  Walking through the Funkhaus Berlin with its grand concert halls, sweeping hallways, and state-of-the-art equipment, one can't help being reminded of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The former GDR broadcasting studios are an enormous complex, housing cutting-edge sound technology within carefully preserved historical interiors and cavernous industrial halls. The Funkhaus was designed in the 1950s by Bauhaus engineer Franz Ehrlich, who during World War II had been interned at […]

Note: This recording contains strong language that may not be suitable for young listeners.   A few years ago, Stephen Paul Taylor became an internet sensation when a tourist filmed him busking on the street with his ironic pop song "Sh*t's F***ed." The video went viral, and Taylor became a celebrity in his own right, with an album, memes, and regular appearances on German TV. Marlene Melchior caught up with Taylor […]

  Andres Barlesi first picked up a guitar when he was just five years old, was in his first band by the age of 12, and went on to play and tour internationally with the Argentinian indie band Los Alamos. Today the 36-year-old musician from Buenos Aires lives in Berlin and is working on his solo project, "Atalaya." Barlesi's music for Atalaya isn't confined to particular song structures. When developing […]

  Picturing the early beginnings of a veteran DJ conjures the classic image of turntables and crates full of vinyl. But Michael Fiedler – better known as Fiedel, Berghain's longtime resident DJ – began on tapes.   "I come from eastern Germany, and there was hardly vinyl available, no turntables...I started recording tapes on the radio, and then I played tapes with two tape decks... I had long, long lists with […]

  The earliest memory Raven Chacon recalls of music-making is hearing his grandfather sing Navajo songs while working, watching television, or reading. Later as Chacon began taking piano lessons and learning about music notation, he also began experimenting with making sounds in other ways, with cassette tapes or banging on metal. Now Chacon, who is known for his chamber music compositions, experimental noise performances, and installation art pieces, will live […]

  DJ duo SpatzHabibi have been part of the underground club scene in Berlin for years.  These days, when not looking after their son, Sophie Funke and Pete Littlewood can be found performing at venues around the city and running their label Polychrome Sounds. Creating their own label in Berlin "wasn't 100% about music... it was a lot about just being involved and creating like a kind of community or […]

  “I was an only child,” said Rik de Lisle, an American radio presenter who has been in broadcast since 1976. “My brothers and sisters were the radio.” De Lisle enlisted in the Army when he was 17 and became famous during the Cold War for his on air personality on the airwaves for the U.S. Armed Forces Radio station, AFN. “Berlin was edgy, because of the wall around it, […]