Charts and playlists – The sound over Berlin

Few cities have been able to influence and influence the music of the last fifty years like Berlin, while at the same time becoming a precious incubator. Hence the sense of a very heterogeneous playlist, which ranges between genres through the single common thread of the sense of belonging to the city of the Wall: from the cosmic couriers (Tangerine Dream, Schulze) to the underground (Hagen, Malaria!, Einstürzende Neubauten), from the icons of world rock who moved to the city (Bowie, Pop, Cave, Depeche Mode, U2, Rem) to the unmistakable techno brand of the 90's (DJ Hell, Kalkbrenner, Ellen Allien, Apparat) up to the decadent cabaret of the new muse Andrea Schroeder.

Berlin, city-symbol of the Cold War, of Europe torn apart, of the two opposing blocs – FRG vs. DDR, NATO vs. Warsaw Pact – with the Wall physically sealing the division. Berlin, metropolis of the avant-garde and cradle of the German rebirth, after the collapse of its hateful barrier and the reunification of the two Germanys. A magnetic and fascinating metropolis that has continuously churned out new trends and musical scenes, but which has also attracted countless artists from the rest of the world. A music mecca, with its festivals, its clubs, its lively scene.

We have tried to tell her story in music in this playlist, retracing some of her main sonic evolutions, through her natural and adopted children. From the “doors of the cosmos that are up in Germany” (cit. Finardi), opened by the Berlin cosmic couriers Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, to the punk and industrial germs of its very rich scene underground (Nina Hagen, Malaria!, Einstürzende Neubauten), from the passionate homages of Lou Reed, Milva/Battiato and Alphaville to the rock icons who took root in the city for a period (David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, U2, Rem) up to the unmistakable post-reunification techno brand of the 90's (DJ Hell, Kalkbrenner, Ellen Allien, Apparat) and cabaret decadent of the new muse, the sublime rock poet Andrea Schroeder.

Here then is this long journey that crosses the decades and retraces the atmospheres of the various eras, without forgetting dates (such as 9 November 1989, the day of the fall of the Wall, or 3 October 1990, the seal of the reunification between the two Germanys), events and places, from the infamous zoo, theater of the tragic story of Christiane F. (brought back to the big screen in a film in which David Bowie also took part), to the neighborhoods cool of Schöneberg and Kreuzberg, from Alexanderplatz to the devastated Potsdamer Platz, from the temple of Hansa Studios by The Wall (cradle of the Berlin trilogy by David Bowie and Brian Eno and countless other musical projects) to the historic clubs Zodiak Free Arts Lab, Dschungel, Ex'n'Pop, Risiko, Tresor. A path that inevitably intertwines with other arts, from the visual ones to poetry, from the theater of Bertolt Brecht to the cinema of Wim Wenders and his unforgettable soundtracks.