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Try translating German rhymes into Nairobi slang! Or transforming hip-hop from Bogotá into Filipino rap! It may sound impossible and is ... almost. Rappers from five countries gleefully threw themselves into a state of Babylonian confusion. By Thomas Winkler

Manila in May. That’s thunderous traffic around the clock, feels like 40 degrees in the shade and eight rappers trying to understand one another. That would seem very simple, for hip-hop has long reached the outmost corners of the planet. But, it is difficult because the eight vocal acrobats come from five different countries and rhyme in that many languages. Now they are sitting around three plain tables in the back room of a café in Makati City, Manila’s business centre: Flaco Flow from Bogotá, Malikah from Beirut, Nazizi from Nairobi, Chefket and Amewu from Berlin, and Shielbert, Filemon and Restly from the Tondo Tribe of Manila. Slips of paper are flying to and fro, little groups are whispering, soft beats emerge from headphones, heads nod, pencils fly over paper, fingers over keyboards.

The hip-hop artists were brought together by Translating HipHop , a series of workshops by the Goethe-Institut and Berlin’s House of World Cultures that began in February. All in all 15 rappers from the five countries took turns being invited to exchanges in Bogota, Beirut, Nairobi and now in Manila. Based on literal translations by professionals, now with the aid of this personal exchange new versions of existing lyrics are being written.

“A bit touched in the head”

In practice, this leads, as Amewu experienced to some of his lyrics “simply being put aside.” The rhymes by the Berliner, who is studying culture and technology with philosophy as the core subject, scared off most of his associates from the other countries. All but one. “Nazizi did tell me I was a bit touched in the head, but then she became ambitious about handling my lyrics.”

At some point, Amewu’s German will be transformed into Nazizi’s Sheng, a hybrid of Swahili, other African languages and English, which is spoken in Nairobi. At other ends of the table, Spanish is being transformed into Arabic or Tagalog, the dialect rapped by the Tondo Tribe from Manila. This Babylonian confusion leads to an intense examination of the work of the counterparts, which go far beyond the globally valid hip-hop rituals. “By translating, you can get into the head of the other rapper,” explains Nazizi, “and at the same time, the others rediscover themselves through my translation.”

This transnational communication is, however, only one of the aims of Translating HipHop. The process that the workshop gets started is meant, for one, to remove the borders between the rappers. Secondly, it is also intended to reveal that borders continue to exist nonetheless, yet perhaps different ones than they expected. A true translation, Translating HipHop assumes, is not possible; the transfer can and should generate something new, maybe even more interesting. “This is not social work, we want to develop an artistic project,” explains Detlef Diederichsen, the divisional head of Music at the House of World Cultures, who also travelled to Manila. “That’s why the form is chosen very openly, to be able to develop a new form of the performance.”

Female rap: simply brilliant

Diederichsen, Susanne Stemmler and Johannes Ismaiel-Wendt at the House of World Cultures designed the overall concept. The local Goethe-Instituts selected the rappers from Bogota, Beirut, Nairobi and Manila and also took over local organization of the workshops. The results will be presented this November at a festival in Berlin and at a parallel congress the findings will be evaluated, examining both the limits of translatability and presenting hip-hop as a global language.

How easily this global language can be understood was mainly experienced by the female rappers. “We immediately felt very close,” relates Nazizi from Nairobi. “But really immediately,” adds Malikah from Beirut. These two are the only women in Manila, but during previous stations of the workshop series they got to know Pyranja from Germany and Colombian Diana Avella. One mutual thing instantly united the four women: they are each the sole woman among male rappers in their countries.

So-called female MCs are still rare on the scene, regardless in what part of the world. In all of Kenya, reports Nazizi, “besides me there are maybe one or two others.” That is why Nazizi, Malikah, Pyranja and Diana Avella not only resolved not to lose touch with one another, but they also wish to start an all-girl rap group and plans for an album are already being made. They even are discussing a name: Lyrical Rose.

“The hip-hop thing is almost secondary”

This exchange with like-minded people is also the focus for Chefket. “The hip-hop thing is almost secondary. Hip-hop is just the reason we are getting together here. It’s more about the encounter, it’s about getting to know people,” relates the rapper from Berlin on the final day of the workshop. “What we started here won’t end tomorrow. It will continue.”

It continued already in Manila the week after Translating HipHop with Rap in Tondo. The project in the poor district that the Tondo Tribe come from was held last year for the first time. This second meeting was also organized by the Goethe-Institut Manila, which will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year together with the co-workers at the Alliance Française. Manila in May, that’s one thing most of all: a lot of hip-hop.