Munich currently feels like it is at the center of the world. As every year, reports about Oktoberfest dominate the media landscape for weeks. Despite an investigative range from the safety of the rides to the organic chicken test, it cannot be denied that outside of Munich, Munich is perceived as rather one-dimensional, namely as a fairground between beer mugs and lederhosen. Migrant culture only appears in “Sierra Madre”, New Zealand drinking games or “Greek wine”.
This image has been intended to complement the “Ander Art Festival” organized by the cultural department since 1997 under the patronage of the mayor. It was originally intended as a “foreigner festival” to show how citizens from other countries bring their culture into the city. However, this initially meant that the same folklore groups always played and danced at the festival. But “Andert Art” on Odeonsplatz in the middle of the city has long been a flagship of cosmopolitanism with tens of thousands of visitors, with a surprising program, sub-, socio- and multicultural – and definitely a role model for the Oktoberfest.
Crowd puller: The “Ander Art” festival has been attracting thousands of guests to Odeonsplatz since 1997.
(Photo: Stefan Hellweger)
It starts with garbage. While everything at Oktoberfest ends up in a bin, “Ander Art” has the motto “Zero Waste”. It is separated, printed on recycled paper, the spotlights are low-consumption, and a community kitchen offers “packaging-free meals made from rescued food.” This even fits in with the main attraction on stage at 9 p.m. with its philosophy that “everything can be reclaimed and revived”: Fulu Miziki Translated as “Music from Garbage”, the members from Kinshasa make their instruments “with unheard of sounds” from discarded materials. In doing so, they talk about world peace and the ecological emergency at home in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But their concerts are not educational; instead, their soukous-inspired “Eco-friendly-Afro-futuristic-Electro-Punk” is for dancing: “Shake Your Ass Off!”
Guests from multicultural Berlin: Jamila Al-Jousef and her band “The Other Heroes”.
(Photo: Carolin Saage)
In addition to the musicians from Kinshasa, artists from multicultural Berlin are also guests: Jamila Al-Jousef and her band The Other Heroes Call themselves a “Wild Pack from Many Places”, as “people with post-migrant family histories in Syria, Palestine, Italy and Colombia” and want to evoke “home and wandering at the same time” in their desert radio and fight against racism, sexism and discrimination (19.45 Clock).
Good connections to Brazil: “Maracatu Munique” play Pernambuco.
(Photo: Ander Art Festival)
There is also plenty of space for groups from Munich – with extensive sound ancestral lines. The percussion band Maracatu Munique has excellent connections to northern Brazil and plays the local Pernambuco with funky rhythms, deep drums and powerful vocals (12 p.m.). Seda is the Munich soul hope with a classically trained voice, studied at Berklee College and with Turkish roots – she and her band see themselves as a representative of the non-binary community (3:15 p.m.). The 5Elements are far more than five, rather they are a variable hip-hop collective made up of rappers, beat makers, dancers and graffiti sprayers like Boshi San, Gündalein and Rilla, with a live band they bring almost 20 actors on stage (6.30 p.m.).
The “Nouwell Cousins” can be experienced several times at “Ander Art”: with a concert and five join-in jams.
(Photo: Anderart Festival)
The Nouwell Cousins and their playing partners Munich Anatolian Project The Moldovan accordionist Vlasdilav Cojocaru has a dual role: as a representative of the folk music and cabaret family Well (Biermösl Blosn) they could also like this year Wellbuam play in the Herzkasperl tent at the Oktoberfest. At “Ander Art” they will kick off a “musician get-together” five times after their concert (1:15 p.m.): there will be jamming for 15 minutes, spontaneous players from the audience are welcome on stage.
Participation is welcome anyway, including in the action tents with the three-minute illustrator Morgan Randall, the quiz in the city library’s reading bus (focus: “Zero Waste”), the photographer Arif Abdullah Haidary and the button workshop at the multicultural youth center in the Westend. And especially when Go Sing Choir (4.30 p.m.): For the fifth time at “Ander Art”, Jens Junker and Ian Chapman form a spontaneous choir from hundreds of spectators and study a pop song in polyphony for two hours, which is then filmed for YouTube. This time they take on Tina Turner’s “We don’t need another hero”, which in the end certainly sounds more famous than any Oktoberfest hit from the drunken throats in the beer tents.
“Ander Art” Festival, Saturday, September 23rd, 12 p.m. to 10 p.m., Munich, Odeonsplatz, whatever the weather, free entry