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MUSIC

7 events across Germany you won’t want to miss this February

From dancing dragons to masked fools, we’ve found the best array of events to keep you busy in February.

Published: 31 January 2018 17:13 CET
7 events across Germany you won’t want to miss this February
The Montgolfiade Balloon Festival. Photo: Tegernseer Tal Tourismus GmbH/Stefan Schiefer/DPA

1. Chinese New Year

Though Chinese New Year is considered the most important holiday in China, it’s celebrated in countries the world over – including Germany.

2018 marks the Year of the Dog and officially kicks off on February 16th. But those of you who plan on visiting the nation's capital the first weekend of the month might be happy to know that celebrations start a bit earlier.

From February 1st to 3rd, dragon dances and musical performances will take place in the heart of Berlin at Potsdamer Platz. Don’t miss the fireworks display as it’s on for one night only – February 1st.

At the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, on February 20th a Chinese New Year concert will be held in the evening featuring the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra. This might be your only chance throughout the year to immerse yourself in China's rich, musical tradition in the Hanseatic city.

2. Montgolfiade Balloon Festival

For an enchanting sight, head down to the Bavarian Alps to catch the last few days of the Montgolfiade Balloon Festival at Tegern Lake, which began on 26th January and ends on 4th February.

In the 18th edition of the annual event, around 20 hot-air balloons in unusual shapes and colours take off daily against a backdrop of mountains and blue waters. 

The “highlight of the festival,” as it states on the event's website, will take place when the hot-air balloons “shine reddish in the evening sky” and create a glowing atmosphere – to take place in the evening on 3rd February.

An array of culinary delights and also an entertainment programme for children will round off the winter event.

3. Fastnacht

For those who want to celebrate carnival differently than the ones involving parades, floats and revellers in silly costumes that take place in Cologne, Düsseldorf and other western cities in February, you might want to consider making your way to the Swabian region in Bavaria.

Here, you’ll find a more medieval, serious carnival tradition across the Black Forest region beginning on February 8th and lasting over two weeks. The town of Rottweil is particularly well known for an event which attracts up to 20,000 visitors each year – the Narrensprung (Fools’ Leap).

The Narrensprung in Rottweil, Baden-Württemberg. Photo: DPA

During the Fools’ Leap, which is scheduled in Rottweil on February 12th and 13th, thousands of people – many of them wearing hand-carved wooden masks – take to the streets in a bastion of spectacle.

4. Berlinale

Tired of blasé Hollywood films? Look no further. Berlinale, one of the world’s most notable film festivals, is coming soon to Germany's biggest city.

Running from the 15th to the 25th of February, the festival celebrates its 68th edition this year. As always, on offer are movies ranging from independent and art house productions to some international premieres with A-list casts (‘Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot’ is a particular highlight).

Last year, the international film festival saw almost half a million theatre visits and welcomed over 17,000 guests from 127 countries.

READ ALSO: Berlinale unveils lineup for 2018 edition of prestigious film fest

5. Bremen Samba and Mask Festival

After a very wet and rather dark January, if you’re looking to cure those winter blues and splash your life with a little colour, this two-day masked festival in the Hanseatic city of Bremen might just be the ticket.

The Samba and Mask Festival in Bremen. Photo: DPA

Since 1986, each year, the downtown area of Bremen fills up with dozens of samba groups from Germany and beyond (the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, etc.), attracting over 40,000 spectators. This year’s theme is “Lost in Outer Space.”

On one weekend only – from 2nd to 3rd February – the 33rd annual event is sure to exhilarate once again. On Saturday a massive parade kicks off around lunchtime but those who wish to dance long into the night may also choose to do so.

6. Black History Month

While Black History Month has been observed in February in countries such as the US, the UK and Canada for a few decades now, it's been happening in Germany in recent years too.

The tradition dates back to the 1920s when an American historian initiated a series of events to draw attention to the cultural, economic and social achievements of the Afro-American population.

Nowadays the NGO Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (Black People in Germany) organizes events to celebrate the history of black people in Germany.

In Berlin all through February the cultural centre Werkstatt der Kulturen will be hosting concerts, film screenings and parties with people from a range of fields, such as journalists, philosophers and civil rights activists.

While a few Black History Month activities in Hamburg kicked off in January, there’s still lots more on the programme, including a self-defence workshop and a lecture workshop series on the politics of afro hair.

7. ‘Oh Yeah! Pop Music in Deutschland’

For the music lovers out there, this exhibition is sure to float your boat. At the Communication Museum in Frankfurt, ‘Oh Yeah! Pop Music in Deutschland’ is on for the majority of the month until 25th February.

Grab a pair of headphones and take them with you to the various listening stations scattered across the exhibition. Travel through 90 years of pop music in Germany, starting from swing in the 1920s to punk, Neue Deutsche Welle, techno, hip hop and all sorts of modern day beats.  

But don’t worry if you can’t make it to the financial hub this winter; the exhibition will make its way to Berlin, Leipzig and Stuttgart later this year.

CULTURE

New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday’s death

Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before.

Published: 17 November 2023 09:05 CET
New songs mark sixth anniversary of French star Johnny Hallyday's death

Hallyday, blessed with a powerful husky voice and seemingly boundless energy, died in December 2017, aged 74, of lung cancer after a long music and acting career.

After an estimated 110 million records sold during his lifetime – making him one of the world’s best-selling singers -Hallyday’s success has continued unabated beyond his death.

Almost half of his current listeners on Spotify are under the age of 35, according to the streaming service, and a posthumous greatest hits collection of “France’s favourite rock’n’roller”, whose real name was Jean-Philippe Leo
Smet, sold more than half a million copies.

The two new songs, Un cri (A cry) and Grave-moi le coeur (Engrave my heart), are featured on two albums published by different labels which also contain already-known hits in remastered or symphonic versions.

Un cri was written in 2017 by guitarist and producer Maxim Nucci – better known as Yodelice – who worked with Hallyday during the singer’s final years.

At the time Hallyday had just learned that his cancer had returned, and he “felt the need to make music outside the framework of an album,” Yodelice told reporters this week.

Hallyday recorded a demo version of the song, accompanied only by an acoustic blues guitar, but never brought it to full production.

Sensing the fans’ unbroken love for Hallyday, Yodelice decided to finish the job.

He separated the voice track from the guitar which he felt was too tame, and arranged a rockier, full-band accompaniment.

“It felt like I was playing with my buddy,” he said.

The second song, Grave-moi le coeur, is to be published in December under the artistic responsibility of another of the singer’s close collaborators, the arranger Yvan Cassar.

Hallyday recorded the song – a French version of Elvis’s Love Me Tender – with a view to performing it at a 1996 show in Las Vegas.

But in the end he did not play it live, opting instead for the original English-language version, and did not include it in any album.

“This may sound crazy, but the song was on a rehearsal tape that had never been digitalised,” Cassar told AFP.

The new songs are unlikely to be the last of new Hallyday tunes to delight fans, a source with knowledge of his work said. “There’s still a huge mass of recordings out there spanning his whole career,” the source said.

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