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Sam Smith - Berlin (Radio 1 Live Lounge) - image courtesy of BBC

Berlin Songs: Sam Smith – Berlin

BBC Sound of 2014 winner Sam Smith chose to cover RY X’s Berlin on a recent visit to the Radio 1 Live Lounge. BBC Sound of 2014 was compiled from the three choices of 170 DJs, critics and bloggers of the acts to watch out for in 2014.  Past winners include Adele, Ellie Goulding and 50 […]

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UNLIKE U - Trainwriting in Berlin (screenshot from the film)

Sunday Documentary: UNLIKE U – Trainwriting in Berlin

The documentary UNLIKE U – Trainwriting in Berlin follows a group of graffiti artists spraying trains in Berlin and explores their motivations and experiences through interviews. The film was originally banned from cinemas after complaints from Deutsche Bahn but the makers recently won an appeal against this decision. Unfortunately, though the film is available in full on […]

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Ohrwurm: Niki & The Dove – DJ, Ease My Mind

Niki & The Dove – DJ, Ease My Mind has been playing on repeat in my head since I heard it when I walked into a Berlin clothes shop last week.  I first heard the song when it featured in the BBC Sound of 2012 list but hadn’t thought of it since. This unofficial video (the […]

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Twentieth Century Berlin on Film – The 1960s

The 1960s was a decade of great social and technological advances and Berlin, as the main flashpoint between the ideologies of capitalism and socialism, saw more changes than most cities. The loss of skilled workers to the West, as referred to in my Twentieth Century Berlin on Film – The 1950s post led the government […]

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Twentieth Century Berlin on Film – The 1950s

Throughout the 1950s the government of the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) continued a process of Socialisation in East Germany.  Tensions were running high between the East and West and also amongst the people of the DDR.  The ‘brain drain’ had started, as workers sought out the higher pay and better working conditions in the West. […]

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Twentieth Century Berlin on Film – The 1940s

Continuing my Twentieth Century Berlin on Film series, footage of 1940s Berlin is dominated by the machinations and effects of the Second World War.  At the beginning of the decade the city is a focal point for Nazi marches and speeches.  During the war, the German capital is a prime target for the allied bombers […]

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Twentieth Century Berlin on Film – The 1930s

Berlin in the 1930s was witness to Hitler’s rise to power as Chancellor of Germany and subsequently many shockingly destructive and despicable acts like the book burning of 1933 and the Kristallnacht in 1938.  Continuing my Twentieth Century Berlin on Film series here are a few short videos that show Berlin in the 1930s. Summer […]

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Twentieth Century Berlin on Film – The 1920s

The twentieth century was not kind to Berlin – war, economic depression, Nazism, division and re-unification all left their mark. Twentieth Century Berlin on Film is a series of posts that, through YouTube videos, will show the changes the city has undergone. We begin with the heady days of Berlin in the 1920s – in […]

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