Songs of Gastarbeiter*innen

In the organizer's words:

7.30 pm | Talk
8 pm | "Songs of Gastarbeiter*innen". Musical Lecture

To mark the finale of the exhibition "Archives in Residence: Archive 451. Trikont Verlag", Berlin author Imran Ayata and Munich artist Bülent Kullukcu will present their musical lecture "Songs of Gastarbeiter*innen" at Haus der Kunst.

Trikont Verlag's first record was called "Arbeitersache München - Wir befreien uns selbst", a collection of protest and struggle songs by the group of the same name, to which members of the Trikont publishing collective belong. The self-written and sung songs were inspired by the radical, fun-loving songs from the "Lotta Continua" movement, which Italian guest workers had also brought to Munich.

Imran Ayata and Bülent Kullukcu have been picking up this thread with "Songs of Gastarbeiter*innen" since 2013. Since then, they have been trawling through archives and the music collections of their parents and acquaintances to find the widely scattered remnants of the music of guest workers. Music that was part of everyday life for millions of people in Germany, but was completely unknown to the German public. "Songs of Gastarbeiter*innen" tells the story of Germany as a country of immigration from the perspective of the migrants in a new way. Their songs are about home and homesickness, about arrival and exclusion, about love, the Deutschmark and death. They often hold up a mirror to German society.

Two compilations have been released by Trikont so far, and a stage program has been developed. "Songs of Gastarbeiter*innen" was born out of the desire to make the unknown known and to document this diverse musical culture. In addition, the aim is to pay tribute to the first generation of immigrants and thus close a gap in the culture of remembrance.

The Musical Lecture will be preceded by a talk in which the project will be discussed both from the perspective of migration research and as an expression of musical subcultures.

Price information:

8 € regular | Free admission with "365 Live"