Rhythms of Belonging: Amplifying Afghan Voices in Berlin

Even before the official opening of the festival, a musical talk will set the mood for the country focus on Afghanistan. In the Community Room & Studio of the radio station "Refuge Worldwide", the Goethe-Institut in Exile invites the Afghan-born musician and cultural scientist Taman Noor to a conversation followed by a musical performance. In the conversation, he will talk about his refugee experience, his work with Afghan refugees and his extraordinary music journey to Kabul. Following the talk, Taman Noor will play an intimate DJ set integrating sound samples from Afghan men who recently fled to Germany.
  

© Taman Noor

Taman Noor was born in Kabul in 1975. His family had to leave Afghanistan in 1979 because of the impending invasion by the USSR. Bremerhaven in northern Germany became his new home. While he studied cultural studies and English in Bremen, he organised various mostly small parties. Some were big enough to establish contacts in Hamburg and Berlin, for example with the Teichmann brothers, whom he accompanied to Kabul in 2011 on a Goethe-Institut project lasting several days. This changed his perspective on the country's history since the mid-1970s. Hedonism became increasingly secondary for him, intercultural communication with all available means more and more important - gladly also with a party afterwards. He continued this in Berlin from 2010, among other things through Afghanistan evenings at the former Kater Holzig, as a member of an international organiser group (Border Movement) and as a DJ at German-Afghan cultural events. He currently works as a vocational and educational counsellor for refugees. Interculturality and communication generally play a central role in his dealing with his counterparts.