Let it Swing

Swing, with its full sound, danceable rhythms, energy and optimism, developed internationally into one of the most popular sub-genres of jazz.

The ensemble The Swingin` Hermlins is the only authentic swing band in the world without electronic amplification that relies entirely on its own arrangements, most of which were written by David Hermlin.

The historical and aesthetic dimension of this music will be illuminated by band leader Andrej Hermlin during the concert.

Swing once stood for African-American self-confidence against white oppression and, as a feared youth culture in the Third Reich, for resistance against conformity and military drill. Inevitably, the casual, sophisticated, cheerful swing was branded as degenerate music, although at the same time the cultural managers of the National Socialists used it for a long time for propaganda purposes in their foreign programmes. From 1935, however, it was no longer played on Reich radio, and from 1937 the general ban on playing it was controlled by the Hitler Youth and the police, and later by the Gestapo: expulsions from school and arrests followed. Listening to this music was therefore only possible in secret and in exile.


Venue:
Former Jewish orphanage Pankow
Berliner Str. 120
13187 Berlin