As Spring finally arrives in Berlin, we’re shining a light on projects that are using the season to focus on renewal and reinvention. One Berlin institution closes its doors to start a new chapter, and a mainstay of the city’s electronic music scene launches a new project with an eye-catching list of collaborators. Plus, we highlight a collective working tirelessly to uplift Palestinian art, music and history.
Initiative:
AL Berlin is a collective and event series focused on spotlighting music and culture from West Asia, North Africa and its diaspora in Berlin. Last month they sadly closed the doors of their beloved home on Skalitzer Strasse for the last time. The collective has hinted at an upcoming ‘resurrection’ in a new space, and they’re showing no signs of slowing down their programming. You can catch their next big event, AL.Karneval, at Festsaal Kreuzberg on 26 May.
Event:
On 31 May, Ziúr will host a launch party at Volksbühne for her upcoming album Eyeroll, the long-awaited follow-up to 2021’s Antifate. A vital trailblazer in Berlin’s experimental music scene, Ziúr is not only a great musician and DJ, but a prolific collaborator with an ability to bring people together and form imaginative connections between scenes and sounds. This is a quality that will be on display at Volksbühne, where she’s joined by Welsh artist Elvin Brandhi, Egyptian vocalist and composer Abdullah Miniawy, Manchester-based rapper Iceboy Violet and filmmaker Sander Houtkruijer.
Release:
On 15 May, Palestinians commemorate the 75th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, the destruction of Palestinian society and the violent expulsion of the majority of the country’s population from their homeland. To mark the anniversary, we’d like to give a nod to our friends at the Palestinian arts collective, label and event series Exist Festival, who recently released their second compilation, No ComplY. The compilation features music from artists at the forefront of the scene in Palestine and beyond, including Muqata'a, Kujo and MC Yallah & Debmaster. Money raised through the release will help fund a skatepark in Gaza City. Head to bandcamp to pre-order.
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