A piece of Berlin in Brussels – a poetic musical evening with DOTA and Mascha Kaléko
Berlin musicians Dota Kehr and Jan Rohrbach (DOTA) took the audience on a musical journey through Mascha Kaléko's poignant, timeless poetry – sometimes funny, sometimes melancholic, always close to life.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the poet's death, the Goethe-Institut Brussels, as part of its Europanetzwerk Deutsch programme, together with the Office of the State of Berlin to the EU, hosted this unforgettable concert evening.
Mascha Kaléko (1907–1975), who came from Poland, experienced the feeling of being a stranger even as a child. She found a home in Berlin during the Weimar Republic and quickly became a literary star with her subtle ‘functional poetry’. As a Jew in Nazi Germany, this success did not last long, and she soon had to leave Germany. In exile – first in the USA, later in Israel – she never felt completely at home, which is also reflected in her poems.
Whether ironic or sad, her texts still touch us today. This was also the case with DOTA's musical settings, which thrilled the audience at the Berlin State Representation in Brussels. After the Kaléko poems, the two musicians played their own pieces. Only after prolonged applause and several encores did the concert come to an end.
A big thank you to DOTA for this moving evening and to the Berlin State Office at the EU for their excellent cooperation.
Mascha Kaléko: Mascha Kaléko began writing in Berlin in the 1920s, publishing her work in daily newspapers. Her early poems are pointed sketches of everyday life in Berlin dialect. She quickly made a name for herself and rubbed shoulders with the greats of Berlin's bohemian scene at the Romanisches Café. With the Nazis' rise to power, her success as a writer came to an abrupt end. As a Jew, she was no longer allowed to publish, so she left Berlin in 1938. Berlin remained her constant point of reference, but it was not until 1957 that she dared to return from New York. Around the 50th anniversary of her death, the works of the Jewish poet are experiencing a renaissance.
DOTA: Berlin-based Dota Kehr has been writing lyrics, singing and making music with her band DOTA since 2003. They have now recorded 16 albums and played countless tours at home and abroad. DOTA has taken Kaléko's poems, turned them into songs and preserved Mascha Kaléko's lyrics for our time.
Participation for EU officials and ministerial officials from the Permanent Representations of the EU Member States and interested parties
