Soundcheck Blog: On Site - Berlin

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

 

Originally uploaded by wnyc

Just a block behind our hotel, near Checkpoint Charlie, stood the Berlin Wall. The stretch above is located in a fascinating outdoor museum called the Topography of Terror. This was the site of buildings which were once the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS during the Nazi era. The Berlin Wall ran along the south side of that area from 1961 to 1989. The wall itself — which is remarkably thin, and not particularly tall — was never removed from the site, and it now is the second-longest segment still in place.

It’s hard to underestimate the significance of the Wall on musicians who grew up in Berlin during the Cold War. Alec Empire, a techno DJ we met with today, recalled growing up in the West during the 70s and 80s and walking by the Wall every day on his way to school. The sight of patrol guards with guns later inspired many of his darker, more politically-charged songs (a certain dark intensity is often characteristic of today’s music from Berlin). In contrast, Kay Meseberg, a journalist, DJ and TV producer who grew up in East Berlin, remembers with some amusement how his grandmother would smuggle cassette tapes of Western pop music across the border for him (apparently, innocent-looking grandmothers were frequently called upon for such tasks). And in the late 80s, when Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd staged large outdoor concerts near the Reichstag in West Berlin, Kay was one of the many East Berliners who gathered near the Wall to listen in until the police chased them away. — Brian Wise

 
Originally uploaded by wnyc

Some of the gold records made at Hansa Studios include albums by Depeche Mode and Falco.

Built in a converted 1910 ballroom, “Hansa at the wall” stood 50 meters from Hitler’s bunker and was badly damaged during World War II. When Bowie moved to Berlin in October 1976 he spent three years in and out of the studio, working on his Berlin trilogy - the albums “Low,” “Lodger,” and “Heroes.” The latter album is peppered with references to the districts in Berlin and its title song — a love story about two people trying to escape over the Berlin Wall — became an anthem when the Wall collapsed in 1989.

U2 soaked up the studio’s inspiration for their 1990 album “Achtung Baby.” While the band did not ultimately finish the album here, they drew much inspiration from the city at the time, and images of the studio appear prominently in the CD cover art.

Slideshow: Hansa Studios: Then & Now