Indian Music in Berlin

No doubt many of you reading this will want to know about the Indian music scene in Berlin. I have now had an opportunity to check this out firsthand. I was fortunate to be invited to perform at the Indian Embassy, which is now the most frequent venue for Indian music programs in Berlin. I was even more fortunate to be referred by tabla maestro Pandit Sankha Chatterjee to one of his protégés in Berlin, Soumitra Paul. He is an excellent player and accompanist and a very nice person with a lovely family. About the program itself I’ll say only that it wasn’t too bad for a Wednesday night after having not practiced enough post-travel. Mostly I was inspired to get my practice back in order.

While the intentions of the cultural program division of the embassy are probably laudable, the effect of offering numerous free concerts has had perhaps unintended consequences. The payment is very low, but many musicians who want the opportunity and aren’t expecting to get paid much anyway (such as me) are willing to play there anyway. As a result, no one else can book a program and draw enough of an audience to provide properly for a top grade artist. If you want to hear any of the many fine artists who tour in Europe, you have to travel from Berlin to somewhere else in Germany to hear them.

I had heard mention that there was to be another Indian music concert at the Museum on Saturday night, sponsored by the Embassy, featuring L. Subramanium, who is of course a very well-known artist. But there was no notice or poster at the Embassy, and no announcement at Embassy music events, including mine. There were no notices at the Museum, even though the event was supposed to be in conjunction with the Rabindranath Tagore exhibit there. I arrived in time for the 8:00 pm start time I had been told, but the program time had been changed and it had started at7:00. Enough said.

Performing for the Indian Embassy did bring me into direct contact with the German banking system, and its distinct character. Bank accounts are not easy to open - I had to tell them I planned to stay for a year. Credit cards are very little used. They are not accepted in most restaurants or stores unless they intend to cater to foreign or tourist trade (and are therefore more expensive). No one uses written checks at all - if you have or get one no one at the bank will know what to do with it. What’s used where I would expect a Visa card to be usable is a debit card with an electronic chip in it. What’s quite different is that you use electronic access to your account in place of where I might expect to use a check. I give someone my account number and a bank number and they go to their bank or online and transfer money directly. The check is never in the mail. People mostly use cash, and because the one and two euro denominations are coins, you can very quickly end up with $10-$15 in your pocket. Not like at home where I never carry any change longer than it takes to dump it into the ashtray of my car.