Press releases
Popakademie Talks in the summer semester 2023
19. April 2023
This summer semester, the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg is once again offering exciting insights into current topics with its "Popakademie Talks" talk series. The latest editions will take place from April to July under the heading "Musics in Germany". The guests are Cem Kaya, Yuriy Gurzhy and Pamela Owusu-Brenyah.
At the "Popakademie Talks" talk series initiated in 2021, guests from the music and culture sectors speak on various current topics. The talks are open to the public. The talks are moderated by Prof. Dr. David-Emil Wickström, program director for the Pop Music Design B.A. and World Music B.A. programs.In the summer semester 2023, the Popakademie Talks will deal with the topic "Musics in Germany" to focus on the musical scenes that are not necessarily known to a broader public.The first talk will be held on Tuesday April 25th at 7 p.m. by Yuriy Gurzhy. He will talk about post-Soviet music in Germany. Yuriy Gurzhy was born in Ukraine and lives in Berlin. He is a musician, DJ, producer and radio host. Together with writer Vladimir Kaminer, he initiated the party series "Russendisko" in the early 2000s. As a singer and guitarist, Gurzhy is active with the Emigrantski Raggamuffin collective RotFront. In addition, Yuriy Gurzhy works at the National Theater in Mannheim and is responsible for the music of the play "How to Talk to the Dead - Як говорити з мертвими" (premiere on April 22).On May 23rd Cem Kaya will speak about Turkish music in Germany. Cem Kaya is a film director, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. His work "Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm (Love, D-Mark and Death)" is a documentary essay that tells the story of the independent and largely unknown music culture of Turkish labor immigrants in Germany. The film was screened as a world premiere at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2022 in the Panorama section, where it won the Audience Award.On June 06th at 7 p.m., Pamela Owusu-Brenyah will be a guest at Popakademie Talks and will give an insight into the topic of Afropop in Germany. Pamela Owusu-Brenyah is a music consultant, festival organizer and DJ. In the past, she has worked as an A&R for Universal Music Central Europe & Africa and has been a consultant for the Reeperbahn Festival, the German Federal Ministry for Development and Cooperation, GIZ, Twitch, Gropius Bau and many more. She is committed to the visibility of contemporary African culture and people of African descent in Germany.Registration is not necessary, admission free.