How Mary and Berlin met.

Hi,

I had not told almost anybody, but a 2-3 months ago I took part to a writing competition for bloggers.

Unfortunatly I did not win, though I think my text was not bad at all. The topic we had to develop was our relation to Berlin, our feelings and our experience.

As I do not want my entry to rest peacefully and forgotten in my hard disk, I have decided to disclose it here to you. I hope you will enjoy the reading! (I added photos later, as they were not part of the competition).

The first memory of Berlin which comes to my mind dates back to 10th November 1989. I was 8 years old and lived in the small Italian town where I was born.

That morning, when my classmates and I arrived at school, we discovered that our teacher had provided each and every of us with a copy of the local daily newspaper, something had happened: the Berlin Wall had fallen. The teacher had us reading the articles and she explained us step by step what they meant. Even we children should have been informed of this historical fact, as it was going to change the world and maybe our lives. And still I did not know how much Berlin would have changed mine.

Fourteen years later, in August 2003, I was standing in front of what remained of that Wall for the first time. My mind automatically recalled that childhood memory and somehow I felt that it was meant by the fate. That first stay in Berlin has been magical, I was there with my best friend and we felt free and accepted, it was like I had finally arrived where I had always belonged, like the city itself had told me: “Here you are! Why did you lose all this time?!”.

We had rent a one-room apartment in a colorful hostel near Warschauer Strasse, which had opened only a couple of years before, and there we felt like on top of the world! We left in the morning and stayed out all day, I have never walked so much! We got in touch with people of any kind, from policemen (no, we did not get in trouble, they gave us information), to old ladies helping us with our shopping list at supermarkets, to clochards who invited us to sit with them to tell us their story.

And at night… the big discovery about Berlin clubbing and about ourselves at the same time: we started attending dark wave parties, by chance, and we understood that it was our way! Also in this occasion we have experienced how much Berliners are open minded, because when we set off from Italy, our suitcases were full of colorful clothes and we did not have many options when getting ready for a night out. Well, we have always felt welcome at parties, no matter how we were dressed or how shy we were.

Those beautiful days ended up with two 22 year-old girls crying on a plane which was supposed to bring them home. In that moment I promised to myself that I would have to come back.

It seems that it did work.

Twelve years have passed and since then I have travelled continuously to Berlin, at least twice a year. I got to know many people and I have many dear friends there. Now, leaving for the German capital means having my husband, my dog and myself in a car and driving from Turin to Berlin (as we would not like our dog travelling in the stow of a plane), crossing the country and stepping by over night to rest and get to know other towns. The adventure goes on, it changed, but it never stopped!

All along this time my bound with Berlin has grown stronger and stronger, there are smells, sounds and sights that are carved under my skin, although they may seem like little nothings. I shiver if I think of the smell of fresh bakery when entering Kaiser's, or the strong smell of oil and grease when walking down the stairs of Frankfurter Tor’s underground, not to mention the incense perfume in some gothic clothes shops or in Duncker Club.

The voice in public means of transport saying, for example, “Nächste Station: Alexander Platz”, “Ausstieg: links” is so familiar.

Last, but not the least: seeing the sunset going down behind the TV Tower, when walking along the Warschauer bridge: this is quite often my last sight before leaving to go back home and it is as beautiful as it hurts.

Then faces, all those people who became close friends of mine. Seeing each other only from time to time means having much to update, but I have to admit that they make me feel like I had never left.

This is how I like to describe my feeling towards Berlin to anyone who asks me: in 2003 I went to Berlin for the first time and, since then, I have never really come back home.

"Torino incontra Berlino" / Turin meets Berlin

(English text follows)

Ciao a tutti e buon 2015!

La settimana scorsa è stato pubblicato un mio nuovo post per "Berlino Cacio e Pepe", il cui tema è la rassegna "Torino incontra Berlino", che avrà luogo tra gennaio e marzo di quest'anno proprio a Torino. 

Inutile dirvi quanto mi faccia piacere che questa serie di eventi si svolga proprio nella mia città! Spero di poter prendere parte a molti, vediamo cosa mi concederà il tempo :)

Intanto vi lascio il link all'articolo:

Torino incontra Berlino (per Berlino Cacio e Pepe) 

Buona lettura!

Mary

**********************************************************************************

Hi Everybody! Happy 2015!

Last week I wrote a new post for the on line magazine Berlino Cacio e Pepe, it is about the series of exhibitions and events which is taking place in Turin (from January to March 2015) and that is called "Torino incontra Berlino" (Turin meets Berlin).

As my article in the magazine is in Italian only, I'm more than glad to provide you with an English version here.

9th November 2014 was the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall (I wrote a couple of posts here too: "25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall" and "Fall of the Berlin Wall: my little memory") and the city of Turin celebrated it with a special evening at the Teatro Regio, with music, readings and pictures. This was not an isolated event, but one of the main focuses of "Torino incontra Berlino".

Leaflet of "Torino incontra Berlino"

 The idea at the basis of the connection between the two cities is the path they have been following to overcome two difficult historical and economical moments: post war reconstruction, for Berlin, and industrial crisis for Turin.

The history of the German capital and the one of the main Piedmont's city are different, but both have decided to combine urban requalification to a cultural regeneration of the territory.

"Torino incontra Berlino" is offering a wide variety of meetings, exhibitions and performances, which cover music, art, science, philosophy, cinema, theatre dramas, language and literature. Moving from Goethe to Wim Wenders, from Tobias Rehberger's and Rebecca Horn's lights to Sven Marquardt's personal exposition, the viewer will experience German art and knowledge, shown in the cultural locations of Turin.

In occasion of "Torino incontra Berlino", Turin's Goethe Institut will offer an ad hoc German class, addressed to people who already have a good basic knowledge of the language, focussed on Berlin.

The logo and billboard of the event are also worth special attention: a bull, symbol of Turin, and a bear, Berlin's icon, which seem to walk one towards the other. Under this image, it is quoted one of John Kennedy's best known sentences: Ich bin ein Berliner.

Personally, I am really happy that my city is hosting such complete cultural exhibition about my favourite city, I hope I will be able to attend as many events as possible. 

If you are interested, you can follow this link to the programme: 

"Torino incontra Berlino" programme .

Enjoy!

Mary

Blutengel fly to Italy for their new video: Asche zu Asche

Today I would like to talk to you about one of my favourite bands, Blutengel, focussing on their last single “Asche zu Asche”. 

For Italian speakers: you can find my article for the magazine “Berlino Cacio e Pepe” at the following link

Da Berlino a Roma fra atmosfere gothic: i Blutengel volano in Italia per girar un nuovo videoclip 

I strongly believe that most of the readers of this blog know the band quite well but, anyway, I think that a short introduction is due.

Blutengel are one of the most famous German dark-gothic bands. They were founded in 1999 by the frontman, Chris Pohl, who had already been member of Terminal Choice and Seelekrank. After the turnover of several female singers, at the moment the only woman sharing the microphone with Chris is Ulrike Goldmann, who has been part of the band since 2005.

Chris and Ulrike are not alone on the stage during concerts: dancers and performers (at the moment: Viki Scarlet, Nicola Heinrich and Nadine Schneiderat) create a catching show, which recalls the topic of each song played.

 Photo by Marco Tridente

Blutengel have many fans here in Italy too: they follow the band in tour and at festivals in Germany, because unfortunately they have not been playing in our country for a long time. However, last month, we have had a clear sign that Blutengel are quite attentive to what happens in Italy too: Chris Pohl announced (via Facebook) that Ulrike and he would have flown to Rome to shoot the videos of two songs which will be part of their new album Omen (expected for February 2015).

In Germany there are several agencies for video production, but this time Chris Pohl was looking for something new compared to what they had shown until then with their videoclips (though they being very good). He had the chance to see the works of the director Carlo Roberti and he was quite impressed by the cinematographic style that Roberti creates, thus Chris decided to collaborate with the director’s agency: Solobuio Visual Factory. This last is not new to the dark-gothic scene, as they had already worked with bands like Kirlian Camera, Spiritual Front and L’Âme Immortelle.

The two Blutengel’s videos were shot between Rome and Tivoli in less than a week. The first result shown to the public is “Asche zu Asche”, uploaded on line on 13^th November by Out of Line, the band’s label. The German-Italian collaboration was immediately appreciated in the web, scoring more than 55.000 views in the first three days.

The effect that both Chris Pohl and Solobuio wanted was fully achieved: “Asche zu Asche” looks like a thriller movie synthesized in the 5 minutes length of the song. The sexy killer, played by the Italian actress Claudia Salvatori, is hired by Ulrike Goldmann, acting the part of an icy dark lady, in order to kill some men. The turn of events is reached when the killer changes her mind: to put an end to her violent destiny, she shoots Ulrike, instead of murdering the chosen victim. In the last scenes we see Claudia Salvatori appearing, weapon in the hand, behind Chris Pohl, who had been watching everything from the top of a high building until that moment. The immediately following image shows the woman in her flat, trying to wash away blood from her hands. The viewer feels the suspense and asks himself if Chris could have been the real instigator and if he ended up by being killed too.

It is surely peculiar, especially for those who usually follow the German band, to hear one song of theirs and seeing it played by Italian actors under such an Italian style direction. It is a “fusion” which has satisfied both Solobuio and Blutengel. Furthermore it is nice to see fans’ comments in the several social networks: Italian ones are happy to see their idols appreciating the work of their compatriots at the point that they did not hesitate to come over to Italy to start a collaboration, the German ones, on the other hand, like the news introduced by the video in terms of idea and directions.

Deutsch-Italienische Freundschaft perfectly succeeded!

Fall of the Berlin Wall: my little memory

(Testo in italiano a fondo pagina)

My bond to Berlin is very strong, those who know me are quite familiar with this feeling of mine. Every 9th November I like to join the chorus of memories of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, with a thought, a video or a song. This year, which is the 25th anniversary, I have decided to do it from here, from my blog.

In 1989 I was only 8 years old and I had a very little idea of where Berlin and Germany were and even less I knew what was happening there. However, I have a very vivid memory of 10th November 1989.

That morning, when my schoolmates and I arrived at school, we found on each of our 25 desks a copy of "La Stampa" (one of the best known daily newspapers in the area of Turin). We could hardly read our school book, just imagine a newspaper! Anyway, something important had heppened in the world: the border at the Berlin Wall had been opened. Our teacher had thought that even we, small kids, should have been aware of that event, which would have changed history, also our own (and she was so right!)
Each of us read aloud a part of the article, as we used to do during our usual lessons, then we had the content explained with the easiest possible words. We felt like grown up: we had a newspaper and we were talking about "things happening in the world".

14 years later Mary (me!) arrived in Berlin for the first time. I had obviously studied history by that time and I also spoke German but, when I found myself in front of the Berlin Wall ("our part of the Wall", as I usually call the East Side Gallery, because it is very near to the hostel we always stay at), the very first thought I had was that school day at 8 years old. As a child, I would have never guessed that that Berlin, about which I had read in adults newspaper, would have become so important to me.

If nowadays I can travel to the German capital (any time I have enough money...) and I can visit all the city with no limits or problems, it is thanks to those determined and brave berliners who fought to cancel all borders. This post is my THANK YOU.
At the same time I thank all present berliners: thay see us arriving in their city from all over the world, for our holidays or to stay, and they welcome us. May this welcome always be repaid with respect from our side.

I wish a good 9th november to all berliners: the native ones, those of adoption and those who feel berliners in their soul (as I do).

Hugs

Mary

*****************************************************************************

Il mio legame con Berlino (chi mi conosce lo sa bene) è molto forte e, ogni 9 novembre, mi piace unirmi al ricordo dellla caduta del Muro con un pensiero, un video o una canzone. Quest'anno, che è il venticinquesimo anniversario, ho deciso di farlo da qui, dal mio blog.

Nel 1989 io avevo solo 8 anni e una vaga (vaghissima) idea di dove fossero Berlino e la Germania e ancor meno di cosa stesse accadendo laggiù. Però ho un ricordo ancora molto vivo del 10 novembre 1989.

Quel mattino, quando io e i miei compagni siamo arrivati a scuola, su ognuno dei nostri 25 banchetti abbiamo trovato una copia del giornale "La Stampa". Noi sapevamo a malapena leggere il nostro libro di lettura da scuola elementare, figuriamoci un quotidiano! Ma nel mondo era successo qualcosa di importante: era caduto il Muro di Berlino. La maestra aveva ritenuto che anche noi piccoletti dovessimo essere al corrente di quell'evento che avrebbe cambiato la storia, anche la nostra (e se aveva ragione!).
Avevamo letto un pezzo di articolo a testa, ad alta voce, come quando facevamo lezione normalmente, poi ci era stato spiegato il contenuto con le parole più semplici possibili. Ci sentivamo grandi: avevamo il giornale e parlavamo di "cose successe nel mondo".

Quattordici anni dopo, la Mary arrivava a Berlino per la prima volta. Ormai la storia l'avevo studiata e parlavo anche tedesco ma, quando mi sono trovata davanti al Muro ("la nostra parte di Muro", così sono solita chiamare la East Side Gallery, perchè vicinissima all'ostello in cui solitamente soggiorno), il primo pensiero che ho avuto è stato il ricordo di quel giorno di scuola, a 8 anni.
Sicuramente da bambina non avrei mai immaginato che quella Berlino, di cui avevo letto nel giornale degli adulti, sarebbe diventata così importante per me.

Se oggi ho la possibilità di viaggiare verso la capitale tedesca (ogni volta che le finanze me lo permettono...) e visitare tutta la città, senza limiti o problemi, è grazie ai caparbi e coraggiosi berlinesi che negli anni hanno lottato per abbatterne i confini. Questo post è il mio GRAZIE.
E ringrazio anche tutti i berlinesi di oggi, che ci vedono arrivare numerosi da ogni parte del mondo, per le vacanze o per rimanere, e ci accolgono. Cerchiamo di contraccambiare sempre questa accoglienza con il rispetto!

Buon 9 novembre a tutti i berlinesi: a quelli nativi, a quelli d'adozione e a quelli che si sentono berlinesi nello spirito (come me).

A presto,

Mary

Ritorno al K17

(English text follows)

Al K17 sono stata per la prima volta nell’estate del 2003: primo viaggio a Berlino, inizio della mia “svolta dark”.

All’epoca non ero ancora molto informata su come muovermi nei vari parties in città, ricordo che io e l’inseparabile amica che era partita con me cercavamo le serate di nostro interesse sulla rivista Zitty, poiché del “Das Schwarze Buch” non avevamo mai neppure sentito parlare

Un gentile, ma poco aggiornato, informatore, ci aveva detto che il locale si trovava nella Kadiner Strasse, al numero 17. Brutta sorpresa è stata trovare l’edificio chiuso, neppure una luce accesa ad incoraggiarci a cercare un altro ingresso, neanche un anima per strada. E’ qui la festa??? Mi sa di no.

Non è stato facilissimo trovare qualcuno che potesse chiarirci le idee ma, alla fine, abbiamo trovato anche l’informatore aggiornato: il K17 si era spostato, nella Pettenkofer Strasse n. 17. Da quel momento per me è iniziata una serie lunghissima di serate trascorse in quel locale, anno dopo anno, vacanza dopo vacanza, con persone diverse.

Al K17 si andava di martedì e giovedì, perché il lunedì c’era il party “Montag im Duncker” (e c’è ancora, per fortuna!), il mercoledì “Sentimentale Jugend” all’Halford (purtroppo questa serata, invece, riposa in pace da poco meno di un decennio), il venerdì era dedicato al Kato (ha riaperto con un altro nome, cosa fanno?) e il sabato c’era troppo metal per i nostri gusti.

La preparazione prima di uscire avrebbe potuto dar vita ad un nuovo programma televisivo, “Pimp my dark”, perché tanto non si correva mai il rischio di essere eccessivi rispetto agli altri frequentatori, si esprimeva la propria creatività, si sperimentava sul proprio look e a me piaceva!

Un volta arrivati al club, si facevano incontri di ogni tipo: ragazze che sembravano modelle gotiche (e magari lo erano davvero), ragazzi altissimi che indossavano gonne molto più lunghe delle nostre, personaggi con outfit e trucco elaboratissimi (raffinati e non) e poi gli italiani, quelli che come me erano lì in vacanza, ma che facevano i fenomeni, senza accorgersi che nessuno li notava. Si, perché il mood che avvertivo io era quello: nessuno ti giudicava, ma nessuno ti notava, però tutti ti rispettavano. Poteva esistere una combinazione migliore? Chissà se tutti la percepivamo così?

Le cose nel tempo sono un po’ cambiate, le serate del martedì e del giovedì hanno avuto cadenza oscillante, il sabato offriva solo un po' di dark music e l'età media degli avventori si era notevolmente abbassata. Poi, qualche anno fa, la gestione del locale sembrava aver preso una direzione differente, nell’elenco delle serate iniziavano a comparire parties r’n’b, feste di fine anno scolastico, musica più “colorata”, fino a far diradare gli eventi dark. Non è che ci sia qualcosa di male ad ascoltare r’n’b’ o generi simili, ma semplicemente non era ciò che mi interessava e, tra il 2010 e il 2011, ho smesso di frequentare le serate danzanti del K17, ovviamente a malincuore, dato che era il locale che un po’ aveva “visto” le fasi della mia crescita.

L’offerta di concerti, però, non era cambiata: moltissimi artisti della scena dark continuavano ad esibirsi live al K17 e quante volte ho preso un aereo dall’Italia per andare a sentire i miei gruppi preferiti (Blutengel e Solar Fake tra tutti)! Rimanevo comunque sempre solo nell’edificio dedicato ai live.

Fino al 2014.

Lo scorso agosto ero nuovamente a Berlino, sbirciando nel Das Schwarze Buch, ho intravisto una serata possibilmente interessante: FRIDAY CLUB: 80s + 90s, Rock, Metal, Gothic, andiamo? Andiamo!

Non me ne sono pentita. Il club era di nuovo pieno di gente, le tre sale avevano ripreso quasi del tutto l’identità originaria: dark wave e post punk al primo piano, musica anni ’90 (e vabbè!) e anni ’80 al secondo piano e metal al terzo. Era una sensazione piacevole essere nuovamente lì a ballare o anche solo stare seduti nel Biergarten all’ingresso (ma hanno creato anche un nuovo cortiletto interno!), tra un darkettone e l’altro, a bere qualcosa o mangiare un panino cucinato sul momento, guardare il cielo e, per un attimo, pensare che quella sia l’unica realtà, senza tempo.

Spero che tutto rimanga com’è, ad aspettarmi per la prossima tappa a Berlino!

Auf wiedersehen K17, tornerò!

********************************************************************************

I have been in K17 for the first time in summer 2003: my first trip to Berlin, the beginning of my “dark era”.

At the time I still did not know very well how to look for parties in the city. I remember that my closest friend (who was on holiday with me) and I used to check parties in the magazine Zitty, as we did not know about the existence of Das Schwarze Buch.

A kind guy, though not a well informed one, told us that the club was at number 17 of Kadiner Strasse. What a bad surprise we had when we were face to face to a closed door, a building with no lights which could invite us to look for a  second entrance, not a single person around. Is party here??? I don’t think so.

It had not been very easy to find someone who could give us more reliable information but, in the end, we met somebody who was a bit more up-to-date with was going on in Berlin’s night life: K17 had moved in Pettenkofer Strasse n. 17. From that moment on I spent so many nights in this club, year after year, holiday after holiday, with several people.

We used to go to K17 on Tuesday and on Thursday, because on Monday there was (and fortunately there’s still!) “Montag im Duncker” party, on Wednesday “Sentimentale Jugend” party in Halford (this party was cancelled a little less than ten years ago), Friday was devoted to Kato (it was recently opened with another name, what's up down there?) and Saturday was too much metal-oriented for our taste.

If someone had filmed us while preparing before a night out, a new TV show could have been broadcasted: “Pimp my dark”! Because we knew that there was no risk of being over-the-top, compared to the other party attenders: we expressed our creativity, experimented on our look and I loved it!

Once arrived at the club, we saw people of every kind: girls who looked like gothic models (and maybe they were actually), very tall guys wearing skirts much longer than ours, eccentric characters with very complicated outfits and make up (some well done, some not) and furthermore Italians, who were in Berlin on holiday like me, but played the V.I.P.s, not realizing that no one noticed them. This was the atmosphere I felt: nobody judged you and nobody noticed you, but everybody respected you. Could a better combination exist? I wonder if we all shared this mind.

Year by year things changed a bit, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s parties did not happen regularly any longer, Saturday offered only a little dark music and the avarage age of the customers lowered. Eventually, some years ago, the club management took another direction: in the list of parties started to appear some r’n’b’ nights, end of school parties and “colorful music” in general, so that dark parties became quite rare. I mean, there’s nothing wrong in listening to r’n’b’ and stuff like that, it was simply not what I was interested in. The result was that around 2010-2011 I stopped attending K17’s dancing parties. I was a little disappointed, of course, because this club “witnessed” my growing-up (mmm…or better my “getting old”?) since my early twenties.

However, concerts continued to take place normally in K17: artists belonging to the dark scene performed there, as they had always done. I have often taken flights from Italy to reach the German capital city and see my favourite bands (Blutengel and Solar Fake among all), but I only hung in the live performances building of the club.

Until 2014.

Last August I was in Berlin again. Checking Das Schwarze Buch I picked up a party who seemed interesting: FRIDAY CLUB: 80s + 90s, Rock, Metal, Gothic, let’s go? Let’s go!

I’m glad I went. The club was once more full of people, the three dance floors showed again their former identity: dark wave and post punk music on the first floor, ‘90s (ok, ok…) and ‘80s music on the second floor and metal music on the third floor. It felt good to be back there dancing, or even just sitting at the Biergarten at the entrance (they created a further open air space in the inner part!), among other gruftis, drinking or eating a freshly made sandwich, watching the sky and, for a moment, thinking that this is the only reality, timeless.

I hope that everything stays as it is, waiting for my next journey to Berlin!

Auf wiedersehen K17, I’ll come back!