Mahum-Goethe Talents

My experience with the Goethe Talents’ Scholarship program was a unique one.

This being a collaboration between Goethe & the Music Board Berlin, was a very well-organised event, in terms of comfortable facilitation for the scholarship participants. Since the time that I was informed of my selection, till the point of departure from Berlin on the 26th, arrangements were very much in order. I appreciate the generosity, which was even beyond my expectations in some ways. Julia was our main representative figure in the hosting of the program, and her attitude from the very start, was very warm & forthcoming.
 
As for the activities arranged for us (the ten participants), the schedule allowed me opportunities not only to have multi-faceted cross-cultural exchange within music, but also to explore the music & historical scenes of Berlin. This includes visits to various music studios, with a whole day to jam & record at one of them, with a few other musicians from our group. This experience was a rich one: this was perhaps the first time that I worked with live electronic beats & also with African musical/folk forms. Folk & World Music being my dominant genres of practice, I was happy to collaborate with some such artists, and have also brought back songs & live sessions which we recorded on that studio day. I hope to work on the post-production of these songs, which would add yet another flavor to my music portfolio.
 
The introductory meeting at the Music Board Berlin office, offered a chance to interact with some relevant people from the local music industry, including a record label whose office I visited later, and also presented my freshly produced E.P. CD to them. Piranha Records are organizing a music expo next month, and I hope to write them so I can be a part of this event. This should provide further networking & exchange opportunities for myself, as an artist.
 
At the Pop Kultur nachwucs festival, it was such an honour to be given the VIP band & to be allowed into that enclosure, which to enter otherwise, people have to buy special tickets. The workshops at the festival were very useful in terms of learning more about the music industry, modern performance techniques, etc., and such knowledge is all the more helpful when one comes from a country where things are happening, but with not so much awareness & within structures which facilitate more, musicians’ rights.

I also got to perform at the Soda Salon stage at the Pop Kultur, with a Jazz-pianist from Vienna and a bass/trap DJ from Taiwan. This was a great learning/working experience, for which I had arranged a rehearsal space earlier, and developed some experimental material with them. Again, the Music Board office was very cooperative in helping me find the space.

There were some people who came to us & appreciated our performance, which was delightful! This also resulted in a coverage story by the DW Urdu channel & Geo News (Pakistan).
 
In addition, there were all these other activities too, which broadened my perspective of the city, from historical, cultural & contemporary music points of view. We were taken on a guided tour through East Berlin, where we saw the Berlin wall, lots of amazing street art (trademark of this city), some music venues, and spaces which were previously communes in the post-war period.

This was a lovely day, and helped me connect even more so, with this multi-layered city. Then, we were taken by Julia to the Long Night of Museums, something which makes me realise what great vision these nations have, when it comes to promoting the culture of visiting museums & enabling the common man to value their history, art, science & culture. This is an annual or bi-annual event where from 6 p.m.-2 a.m., on a single-person pass of only 18 euros, one can visit any of the 40+ museums that Berlin has to offer (the average entry fee for a single museum, on any other night, is about 10 euros)!!

Additionally, we were allowed free entry into the Berlin Atonal festival, an electronic music legacy in itself, held in the abandoned industrial spaces of the historical premises. I got to witness wonderful experimental sound design works, performed live with state-of-the-art speaker & light systems. This gave me eye-opening insights to my interest in Sound Art, and to how Berlin does it!

I absolutely love the vibe of this very alive city of Berlin, and look forward to be back there again. I met some beautiful folks there, both within the music scene and otherwise. I found people on the streets warm & helpful, and that realisation would hit even more so, when I lost my way a few times on the road! :)
 
You find all these fliers/posters & ads, with a multitude of music/theatre/arts/poetry/cultural events happening literally every day; and at the end even though I didn’t care much for enough sleep during my nights of this trip, I still feel there is so much more to explore of this vibrant city! 

Thank you, Goethe Institute & Music Board Berlin, for making this possible!