Cottbus Tour 2018

In partnership with the Humanistisches Jugendwerk Cottbus e.V. and the Jugendkulturzentrum Glad-House, Turning Tables Germany brought together local and refugee youth in Cottbus and taught them how to write songs, generate beats and shoot videos in a three-month workshop tour. This resulted in impressive, self-produced songs and music videos, in which the youth tell their story. The project was part of the „It’s Your Party-Cipation“ initiative of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk and funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research as part of the „Kultur Macht Stark. Bündnisse für Bildung“ programme.

MUSIc WORKSHOPS

Over the course of 6 weeks, the Turning Tables Germany coaches offered workshops for 15-20 youth on songwriting, rapping and singing, beatmaking and finger drumming, as well as DJing and turntablism. The participants could experiment with easily accessible tools of digital music production, such as mobile phone beatmaking apps and Teenage Engineering pocket synthesizers, as well as Ableton music software with professional DJing equipment. Supported by professional rappers and DJs, they could work on their own songs, beats and DJ sets over several weeks and record a final product.

Film workshops

In several film workshops, 15-20 youth gained first skills in video conception, visualisation and story telling, as well as camera technique and movie editing. The material filmed by the participants was used for the self-produced music videos and short film documenting the project.

Final Concert

At the end of the workshop tour, a final concert was organised in a local underground club, where the participants performed for an audience of around 50 youth, parents and local community. The young artists presented their songs and the music videos made during the previous six weeks. The after-party was joined by several other local youth rappers and the workshop participants DJ’d their own sets.