Humboldt Forum organizes Durchlüften – Open Air in Schlüterhof from 18 July 2024 From Sufi dub and samba to Tanzanian bongo flava or the trance-like polyrhythms of Balochi Benjo from Pakistan – a free, transcultural and intergenerational music festival will once again take place over four summer weekends in Schlüterhof in the heart of the Humboldt Forum. On twelve evenings, the open-air festival Durchlüften presents artists from Berlin and around the world and offers a dynamic programme with 24 live performances and 12 DJ sets. With a carefully curated line-up, music curator and local scene expert Melissa Perales has once again put together an extremely danceable programme for the fourth season, with performances, dance workshops and a family programme to discover.
Image above: Konzert von Etuk Ubong & The Etuk Philosophy bei Durchlüfen – Open Air im Schlüterhof 2022, Copyright: Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss/ Foto: Xander Heinl/ photothek.de
On twelve evenings every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 18 July to 10 August 2024, Durchlüften presents a unique musical journey across continents and borders. The open-air festival takes you from Lagos to Port-au-Prince, from Dar es Salaam to Beirut, from London to São Paulo and back to the club sounds of Berlin’s nightlife – multi-perspective and extremely danceable.
The fourth edition of the festival has many highlights to offer, the first of which is the almost 80-year-old Ustad Noor Bakhsh from Pakistan. His virtuoso playing is deeply rooted in the musical traditions of Balochistan, but also encompasses a variety of Indian ragas, Persian and Kurdish melodies and Afghan ghazals and promises to send the Berlin audience into a trance frenzy. The Pakistani-Hanseatic duo Ashraf Sharif Khan and Viktor Marek, who transform classical South Asian music into Western club music, will translate this momentum into live beats, bass and sitar sounds. Then it’s time to dance the night away to a DJ set by London-based musician, producer, DJ and radio presenter Nabihah Iqbal.
Durchlüften also presents some of the current musical ambassadors of the Brazilian sound: the Afro-Brazilian groove visionaries BIXIGA 70, plus Sessa and Bia Ferreira, two of Brazil’s leading voices, and the São Paulo-born, Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist and music producer Maurico Fleury with his quintet, which includes Ghanaian music legend Ekow Alabi Savage. Also from Ghana: the new reggae sensation Y-Bayani & Baby Naa And The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love.
JUNO Award-winning Haitian-Canadian singer-songwriter Dominique Fils-Aimé reflects on the long history of African-American music culture and the social conditions that have influenced genres such as blues, jazz and soul. Emel (Mathlouthi), the Tunisian protest singer who provided the soundtrack to the revolution with her 2012 album My Word is Free (Kelmti Horra in Arabic), will bring her new, encouraging album MRA to Berlin and Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force, one of the most explosive African band acts currently on stage. Starting this year, Durchlüften is building another bridge to the African continent with its cooperation with the Tanzanian Sauti Za Busara Festival. The co-operation starts with Abeneko & the Positive Mind and the Duo Mabantu.
Visitors can look forward to the performance LIVE CINEMA by Vincent Moon & Rabih Beaini, which explores a new format and combines live edited excerpts from Moon’s documentary films with live music featuring Rabih Beaini on stage. A one-hour dabke dance workshop, a celebration of Middle Eastern culture led by artists Medhat Aldabaal and Ali Hasan from the Humboldt Forum’s Resident Music Collective, invites the audience to immerse themselves in the rhythmic energy of Levantine Arabic folk dance.
Mexican-American curator Melissa Perales, who has lived in Berlin since 1995, is committed to inclusion in the arts and creating spaces where artists can tell their own stories. “It was very important to me that Durchlüften celebrates musical discoveries every summer since 2021 and creates a space where culture is freely accessible to all and connects these transgressive sounds and stories with a curious and open audience. Together we strive to heal and realise the world we all want to live in together, and I believe that listening and sharing is the best way to achieve this. So it is a great honour for me to once again bring together so many great storytellers from all over the world and from Berlin for our wonderful month-long musical journey. I believe we have something for everyone. So bring your friends and families and let’s sow new seeds together on twelve evenings this summer: listen, socialise, smile and of course: dance!’ says Melissa Perales.
The line-up is complemented by the family programme Story Theatre for children aged 4 and over, which takes place every Saturday at 11am, 12pm, 1pm and 2pm. Storytellers have brought many stories with them: they combine narrative material, myths and motifs across languages. Every weekend, different stories are told in German and another language.
Line-up
Thursday, 18.07.24 7 – 11 pm – Ustad Noor Bakhsh (Balochistan, Pakistan), Ashraf Sharif Khan & Victor Marek (Hamburg, Pakistan), Nabihah Iqbal, DJ Set (London, Pakistan)
Friday, 19.07.24 7 pm – midnight – Bia Ferreira (Brazil), Sessa (Brazil), DJ Mauricio Fleury (Berlin, Brazil)
Saturday, 20.07.24 7 pm – midnight – Y-Bayani & Baby Naa And The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love (Saltpond, Ghana), Mauricio Fleury feat. Ekowmania (Ghana, Berlin, Brazil), DJ Ben Olayinka (Berlin)
Thursday, 25.07.24 7 – 11 pm – Dominique Fils Aimé | Montreal, (Canada, Haiti), Cocotá (Berlin, Senegal), DJ mokeyanju aka Jumoke Adeyanju (Berlin)
Friday, 26.07.24 7 pm – midnight – Emel Mathlouthi (Tunisian, U.S.A.), Madanii (Berlin, Iran), DJ Booty Carrell (Munich)
Saturday, 27.07.24 7 pm – midnight – Abeneko & the Positive Mind (Tanzania), Mabantu (Tanzania), DJ mokeyanju| aka Jumoke Adeyanju (Berlin)
Thursday, 1.08.24 7 – 11 pm – Etuk Ubong (Nigeria), Steve Mekoudja (Berlin Kamerun), DJs In Living Color (Berlin)
Friday, 02.08.24 7 pm – midnight – Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force (Senegal), Muito Kaballa (Cologne), DJ Ben Olayinka (Berlin)
Saturday, 03.08.24 7 pm – midnight – BIXIGA 70 (Brazil), Berlinda Samba Jazz (Berlin, Brazil), DJ Radio Hobo (Berlin, Venezuela)
Thursday, 08.08.24 7 – 11 pm – Fulu Miziki (Kongo), BantuSoul All Star Band (Berlin, Kongo), DJ Alai K a.k.a. Disco Vumbi (Berlin, Kenia)
Friday, 09.08.24 7 pm – midnight – Vincent Moon & Rabih Beaini’s LIVE CINEMA (France, Berlin, Lebanon), Adir Jan (Berlin, Kurdistan), DJ AAMIROO (Berlin, Iran)
Saturday, 10.08.24 7 – 11 pm – Dabke Community Dance led by Medhat Aldabaal and Ali Hasan (Berlin, Syria), Pulsar Collective (Berlin, Syria, Turkey, Poland), DJ Ipek (Berlin, Turkey)
WHEN?
Thursday, 18. July until Saturday, 10. August 2024
Opening hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday form 7 pm
WHERE?
Schlüterhof am Schlossplatz
10178 Berlin
COSTS?
Free entry
