This Sunday (19 September 2021) at Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, we are opening the »Decolonial Frequencies« Festival with Sandeep Bhagwati‘s “The Sound Of Misunderstanding – Dhvanivala‘s Sonic Explorations”.

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In the early 1960s a young Indian student comes to Darmstadt to do a PhD in physics. Cold War era – atomic physics is popular. It’s the time of post-colonial aspirations for sovereignty. And what’s going on in Darmstadt? After the atrocities of National Socialism there is an effort to regain face internationally. Experimentation with New Music is happening using technical equipment to generate sounds. How does this new electronic music sound in the ears of the Indian physicist?In The Sound of Misunderstanding – Dhvanivala‘s Sonic Explorations, composer, theatre maker and conductor, Sandeep Bhagwati, is in search of the traces of this student. These instantly lead to the contradictions of that epoch – a conflict-ridden time, oversaturated with repulsive structures and energies. The young man returns to India as a doctor of physics, but also as a sound tinkerer, inspired by his experience in Darmstadt. To be able to live this plural identity requires several names. For Bollywood his name is Dhvanivala, the Sound Supplier.

Dhvanivala as a radio art piece was realized in 2015 for Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

»Decolonial Frequencies«, curated by meLê yamomo, is a series of events over the entire 2021/22 theatre season. More than 20 artists, black perspectives, queer approaches, Asian-diasporic interventions, post-migrant traditions, and voices of color, create numerous performances, lectures, and concerts in their constructed acoustic spaces – with critical amplitude, in gyrating oscillation, and in uncontrollable interference.

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For tickets or more information see the FB event page: https://fb.me/e/CKFIKDjQ

Or visit: https://ballhausnaunynstrasse.de/play/the-sound-of-misunderstanding-dhvanivalas-sonic-explorations/

Many many thanks to the unwavering support of Ballhaus Naunynstrasse artistic director, Wagner Carvalho and head dramaturg, Fabian Larsson. The festival and production poster, postcards, and brochures were fabulously designed by Marcelo Vilela Da Silva.»Decolonial Frequencies« is funded by the Berlin Senate for Culture and Europe.