Adalbertstr.39
10179 Berlin
Germany
- Arts
Project based orchestra of 15 musicians Administrative and artistic team of 4 people Funded by the City of Berlin/Senate of Berlin/additional funding is secured by different music related organizations Music projects with orchestra members and guest musicians - focus on the MENA region Workshops given to children/teenagers in music composition, notation of different music styles Partners: Conservatory for Turkish Music Berlin (BTMK)
Babylon ORCHESTRA, founded in 2016, is an urban Berlin fusion ensemble that combines European and Middle Eastern music with the sound of a big band and a contemporary orchestra. Our aim is to promote intercultural artistic cooperation and thus to give different musical traditions and cultures a place in a common, new and unique sound world of the present. To this end, the ensemble develops a repertoire that brings the traditional music of the Near and Middle East into dialogue with the musical cultures of Europe, and especially urban elements of the Berlin music scene. In this way, we bring people with their stories, traditions, instruments, rhythms and sounds into a creative inter action and believe that this contribution is also important for a deeper understanding of cultural values - more than that: that it can also create dialogues of tolerance and respectful interaction in the future. Because this is our second major concern: to find our own answer to a changing world with immense social challenges.
Babylon ORCHESTRA stands for a lively and contemporary exchange between cultures. Our artistic vision also matches our values: our project aims to be the best example of dialogue between cultures and to show that joint artistic creation forms a bridge that enables harmonious, respectful and peaceful intercultural exchange, in which all participants learn from each other and at the same time create unique artistic forms. Together with our cooperative partner, the Conservatory of Turkish Music in Berlin (BTMK), we organized the concert series "Between the Euphrates and Elbe. New songs between the rivers". Thanks to a generous grant from the Capital Cultural Fund we had the opportunity to invite a special selection of high-quality artists from around the world and to make the intercultural musical and literary exchange with them accessible to a broad audience of the Berlin music scene. This special collaboration has resulted in a musical repertoire that also shaped our debut album, which was released in mid-2020. Featuring on the album, among others, are the Kurdish- Persian singer Hani Mojtahedy, the Syrian singer Rebal Alkhodari and exceptional soloists such as Osama Abdulrasol (Qanoon), Alaa Zouiten (Oud) as well as Layale Chaker and Maias Alyamani (both violin). In June 2019 the starting shot was fired for our current series "Babylon ORCHESTRA unVEILed" in which we will play seven concerts at both established and alternative venues in Berlin until the end of 2020, thanks to the support of an open-species funding program of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe. The main focus will be on cross- genre collaboration with international visual and acoustic artists, during the course of which the orchestra's ensemble will now also test alternative stage concepts in various locations of the Berlin cultural scene with composer performers, visual artists and other multimedia artists. In the past we have performed in such renowned Berlin venues as the Komische Oper, HAU (Hebbel am Ufer), Deutsche Oper, Volksbühne and Heimathafen. Together with the Grand Brothers, we performed at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn as well as at the Festival Mozaique and De Doelen in Rotterdam.
We could make the network more known via our different networks and cooperation partners and we could offer to start projects in Germany/Berlin which could travel abroad to make the common goals more present and stronger allover. We believe in exchange and connections, discussions and conflict solving.
We would love to connect to like-minded people and organizations also of other domains to build a stronger awareness for the marginalized communities to make sure we do everything in our power to make this world a little better. The more we are the better we are heard. We find it important to connect with organizations from different countries and exchange our experiences and create new ones together.