Popakademie initiates new online talk series

The Popakademie Talks start on Tuesday, 27 April 2021 at 7 pm with Defne Şahin in conversation with Prof. Dr. David-Emil Wickström.

Jazz singer and composer Defne Şahin has developed a musical language that reflects her life in different cultures and countries. Born and raised in Berlin, Şahin has already lived in Turkey, Spain, Brazil and New York. She has performed in numerous jazz clubs and festivals in Europe, Brazil, the USA and South Africa. Defne Şahin studied jazz singing at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Escola Superior de Musica Barcelona. In 2014, she received a Master of Music in Vocal Jazz Performance at the renowned Manhattan School of Music in New York. For her studies, she received scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Manhattan School of Music.

On Tuesday 08 June 2021 at 19:00, Sarah Elisabeth Braun will give a lecture on the topic of discrimination and privilege. Braun is an Afro-German artist and activist. She is a co-founder of the BIPoC network, which advocates for a racism-free theatre space, and has been an assistant director at Theater Bonn since 2018. Braun is active in various political and postcolonial structures, working on racism, classism, feminism and intersectionality. The focus of her work in artistic and political contexts is to make visible and strengthen migrant and black perspectives.

On Tuesday 06 July 2021 at 19.00 Malcolm Ohanwe will be a guest at Popakademie Talks. Malcolm Ohanwe (27) is a multimedia journalist for ARD and ZDF. He travels all over the world for his reports: whether to Detroit in the United States, the 20-million metropolis Lagos in Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates or Sonthofen in Swabia. It's about homophobia in religious communities or violence-glorifying lyrics in Deutschrap, feminism, (everyday) racism, cultural identity or Corona. In 2019, he received the International Music Journalism Award for the best music journalistic work under 30, as well as being listed as one of the best journalists under 30 by Medium magazine. His podcast "Kanackische Welle" together with Marcel Aburakia received the Smart Hero Award in 2020, among others. He hosts the programme "Respekt" for ARD alpha, the #trending format for ZDF Auslandsjournal and the podcast "Sack Reis - Was geht dich die Welt an?" for SWR.

Registration for the talk on 27 April at 7 pm with Defne Şahin: talks@popakademie.de