Soundcheck Blog

An action-packed week in Berlin has yielded five very busy shows about that city’s music scene. Check out our visits with various musicians, journalists, producers, and others on the rock, cabaret, world-music and electronic music scenes.

Day One: Berlin: Is it Hot or is it Over? (November 5, 2007)

Day Two: Berlin’s Newest Sounds (November 6, 2007)

Day Three: In Berlin, What’s Old is New Again (November 7, 2007)

Day Four: What’s Next, Berlin? (November 8, 2007)

Day Five: Inspired by Berlin’s Strange and Colorful Spaces (November 9, 2007)

Soundcheck on Site: Berlin is supported in part by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Originally uploaded by wnyc

A week in Berlin, based out of a hotel at the old border crossing known as Checkpoint Charlie, is both an exciting and a sobering experience. The city is young, and it’s full of young people, and subway messages pass on the official message of tolerance and community.

The mayor’s slogan “Poor But Sexy” (for his city, not himself) still seems to play well here. But it’s also an old city, with a history that cannot be forgotten. Bullet holes remain in some buildings, and bits of the Wall have been kept here and there. You think of the atrocities that were planned and ordered here. Here in a city that was Hitler’s capitol. But a city where he never won a free election. A left-wing city that some say was the only major Continental city that Hitler never really conquered.

The contradictions are clearest of all at a place like Checkpoint Charlie. Once the tense face-off spot between East and West, it is now a bare lot surrounded by a different kind of wall, which tells the story of the divided Berlin in pictures and maps. Here is where Peter Fechter died at 18, shot by East German guards and left to die on the street while American soldiers and West Berlin police stood by, frozen by uncertainty. And here is where the late Mstislav Rostropovich brought his cello, to sit and play among the piles of rubble created out of the Wall by a throng of jubilant Berliners.

There is no real monument. The Friedrichstrasse is now full of high-end stores. There is a museum, but it’s a block south. On the corner of Checkpoint Charlie, I got chills simply walking along the block, reading the writing on the wall. – John Schaefer

It would’ve been nice to have recorded this week’s shows in the order they were to be broadcast, but given people’s schedules, that was never going to happen. So our last day in Berlin saw us recording — strangely enough — the opening segment of our Soundcheck On Site: Berlin series, as well as its actual conclusion.

Our segment asking whether Berlin is really as hot as everyone seems to think elicited two replies - Absolutely Yes, and Yeah I Think So. Given the almost unnatural amount of hype surrounding this city and the recent descent of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars to Berlin, we expected our journalist and our well-traveled DJ to suggest that maybe the scene had already peaked, but it does seem like there is something in the air here. (And it ain’t the sun.) Above Right: Musician Alec Empire and journalist Birgit Herdlitschke with John Schaefer.

The segment was recorded in a bar/restaurant, which gave us a nice sense of ambiance, but the bartender in charge today was not the one who had okayed the recording last week, and he was quite miffed at losing his biggest table at lunchtime to a bunch of people who, though drinking, were not ordering much food and instead were jabbering in English. But it was nothing an enormous tip (even by American standards) couldn’t fix.

Later in the day, after a good Turkish dinner, Gisele (who must’ve been the Activities Director on a cruise ship in a previous life) decides we should go to a club, which would be fine if we knew who was playing where. But she only has a few names and addresses of clubs, one of which is in the general vicinity. Turns out to be a lengthy walk, and the troops are complaining mightily, but Gisele will not be dissuaded and eventually, we find ourselves descending to the basement of a restaurant where a dozen people have gathered to hear Rudio play “alternative rap.” Rudio and his sidekick appear in goofy clown/pirate/SpongeBob SquarePants regalia, and kick of what in fact turns out to be an inventive set of fun if disposable songs in a kind of rap/punk mix. We stay for the whole set, and I might’ve wanted to stay longer but it’s getting late, and frankly, the beer is disappointing. So it’s back on Berlin’s superb subways for a final time to get back to the hotel. – John Schaefer