Ustad Irfan Khan (sarod), Matyas Wolter (surbahar & sitar), Markus Schlaffke (rubab) & Sanjib Pal (tabla)

Ustad Irfan Khan traces a musical journey from Kabul to Lucknow, following the transformation of the Afghan rubab into the instrument now known as the sarod—a development closely tied to his family's musical lineage. The concert features instrumental raag music via rubab, surbahar, sitar, and sarod sets with and without tabla accompaniment.

The Understated Songbook is a text score first performed as a duo by Koen Nutters and Bryan Eubanks. The project has since been expanded as a framework for structured improvisations with larger ensembles. This version is performed by an ensemble comprising a trio, shadow trio, and brass and reed sections.

• Trio: Bryan Eubanks (synthesizer), Koen Nutters (double bass), Sam Hall (percussion)

• Shadow Trio: Hunter Brown (computer), Isabel Rößler (double bass), Felipe Araya (cajon, percussion)

• Brass: Peder Simonsen (tuba), Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet) 

• Reeds: Michael Thieke (clarinet), Chris Heenan (bass clarinet) 

Marie Krüttli & Ensemble performs animals and goddesses

Marie Krüttli (vocals, piano), Marina Tantanozi (flute), Mathilde Vendramin (cello), Otis Sandsjö (saxophone), Peter Meyer (guitar), Jérémie Krüttli  (bass) & Fabian Rösch (drums)

Marie Krüttli presents new music as a ritual of becoming. The lyrics evoke feminine power through ancient goddesses—Amaterasu, Isis, Athena—luminous, wise, maternal, brave and fiercely protective figures of transformation. These presences mirror a journey of self-growth and love, deeply rooted in nature and its cycles. Musically, the work draws on the forward-looking sensuality and groove of Bilal’s recent creations and on Baudelaire’s poetry as set to music by Debussy, alongside the refined colors of Poulenc and Ibert. The music unfolds as an intimate, expansive sound world where myth, care, and strength resonate. 

The Handover

Aly Eissa (oud), Andrew Nasser (violin) & Jonas Cambien (Korg Minilogue xd and Farfisa)

The Handover release their new album in June following their debut album The Handover (Sublime Frequencies 2024). The trio combines the delicacy of classical Arabic music with the raw expressiveness of Egypt's rural and shaabi music, peppered with a good dose of psychedelic improvisation, kraut riffs and experimental sounds.  

EROSÃO PERCUSSION TRIO  

Mariá Portugal (drums, voice, percussion), Emilio Gordoa (percussion, live electronics) & Burkhard Beins (percussion, electric bass)

Originally formed to bring Portugal’s 2021 album Erosão to the stage, Erosão Percussion Trio has taken on a life of its own, performing worldwide and releasing Erosão Percussion Trio on Kassiani Records/Fun in the Church. The album features new material that builds on their shared exploration of percussive sounds and voice. 

The Pitch 

Boris Baltschun (analog synthesizer), Koen Nutters (double bass), Michael Thieke (clarinet) and Morten Joh (vibraphone, tape delay) with Jules Reidy (guitars)

Founded in Berlin in 2009, The Pitch began as a quartet playing a hypnotic form of structured improvisation full of acoustic exploration and electronic intervention. In recent years, they began their collaboration with Jules Reidy, releasing Neutral Star on Miasmah Records in 2023.

Making Waves #22

Against erasure: archiving as resistance

Hala Alnaji and Almut Shulamit Bruckstein discuss various issues related to the role of archiving in times of crisis. The conversation will be introduced by Palestinian actor Moayad Alsahbli's performative reading of excerpts from the Lexicon created by Hala Alnaji and the Butterfly Trace Collective.

Hala Alnaji is a Palestinian architect, researcher, curator, and educator working at the intersection of architecture, art, and political engagement. Her work explores displacement, spatial justice, cultural memory, and counter-mapping in conflict-affected geographies, particularly Gaza and Egypt. She is the founder of Butterfly Trace Collective, a community-based platform documenting lived experiences of genocide and displacement through collaborative artistic practices. 

Almut Shulamit Bruckstein is a writer, curator, epistemic architect, and founder of House of Taswir. Her publications and exhibitions include The Istanbul Pavilion / The Gaza Biennale; The Gaza Walker: Let Us All Be Jewish Palestinians; The Talmudic Bride and Her Shadow’s Dream: A Letter to the Psychoanalyst of My Beloved; Wednesday Society: The Couch of Meret O.; Freud. Talmud. Taswir; Lady Dada Kalam; Fragments From our Beautiful Future; and House of TASWIR: Doing and Undoing Things. Notes on Epistemic Architecture(s), among many others. 

Hamburger Bahnhof On Tour presentes Saȃdane Afif's Five Preludes Live

From May to July 2026, three evenings with performances will take place alongside the exhibition Saâdane Afif. Five Preludes, directly connected to the works shown in the Hamburger Bahnhof. Afif’s works, with their diverse references to 20th-century art history, initiate a process of observation and interpretation that involves both participants and viewers. He invites artists and writers to create poetic commentaries on his works in their respective languages. These so-called “Lyrics” form the starting point for the performances: on three evenings, a selection of the “Lyrics” written for the exhibited works will be interpreted by various musicians and performers. 

• Lucie Nezrie, The Old (2026)

Lucie Nezri (electronics), Rebecca Lane (bass flute) & Kristia Michael (voice) 

Twelve texts were written in response to The Old, a group of works that references Jeff Koons' famous series The New, and that engages with the decline of objects, bodies, and societal models. Drawing from a chorus here, a verse there, composer Lucie Nezri draws on a personal cut-up of these texts to bring them to life. 

• Ugnė Uma, Melancholic Beat (2026)

In 2004, on the occasion of his exhibition Melancholic Beat, Saȃdane Afif commissioned song texts for the first time, written in dialogue with his works. The four texts were written at the time by the artist Lili Reynaud-Dewar; they now will be performed by Ugnė Uma.

Forstfest: A Distant Report will be held on the site of KM28's Forsthaus studio, located on the edge of Müritz National Park in Grünow, Mecklenburg. We'll present three days of music attuned to the surrounding forest and lakeland, with camping, food, workshops and more. Full details on program, transport, and accommodations coming soon.

with kind support from Initiative Musik