Aşina — The Sounds of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris is one of the oldest soundscapes in the world. The numerous civilizations in this region have a shared musical heritage. In concert, old keys, folk melodies and improvisations come together and combine different languages and rhythms to form a common pulse. Turkish, Syrian, Kurdish and Persian sounds do not invite you to travel back in time, but to an encounter with a living tradition.

About our new series

Unexpectedly familiar — “aşina” is a word of Persian origin and means something that is familiar to us even if we don't fully know it: a feeling of closeness that requires no explanation. The concert series of the same name stands for a new way of listening, which recognizes the familiar in the supposedly foreign and gives it new closeness. Aşina does not connect through a culture, but through common feelings. Internationally renowned musicians are coming to Berlin for the series, some of them specifically for these concerts after a long time. Traditional traditions, artists from the urban scene and rarely heard in concert halls come together on stage and play the music of our time. At the same time, the audience encounters living environments that often only move side by side in everyday life.