Pluri-Rhythm

Rhythm is the most perceptible and least material thing.
—Leopold Sédar Senghor

Percussion music is a contemporary transition from keyboard-influenced music to the all-sound music of the future.
—John Cage

Polyrhythms—combinations of two or more rhythms, each of which has its own independent succession of musical events—go back to their roots in many cultures around the world and can be heard in different genres such as in Afro-Cuban music, jazz, rock, disco, rap, funk, and beatboxing, among others. The electronic music scene, established in Berlin for decades, today more than ever enriches its club landscape with different communities from the different parts of the world that have settled in the city. Thinking of music and sound in Berlin today, can polyrhythms be taken as a starting point for listening, experiencing, and describing the different sonic worlds that coexist in the city?

The Pluri-Rhythm Festival engages diasporic communities in Berlin and opens a platform to live acts, musicians, DJs, and sound artists who are linked by the common thread of their polyrhythmic sound rather than musical genres. The festival brings together a wide audience from different ages, genders, cultural backgrounds, and knowledges to participate in the different sonic worlds of Berlin and to gain insight into their intersections with the local contemporary music scene. The diverse artist line-up for the first edition of the festival brings forth and responds to the idea of pluriversality in instrumental formats, musical techniques, and rhythms, as well as in musical traditions and fusions that unite performances, club spaces, and various sonic experiences throughout the city.