The Kiezsalon rounds out its 2025 season at the Collegium Hungaricum in Berlin-Mitte across two evenings in November. On Wednesday, we present Japanese psych-rock trio KUUNATIC, Mexican sound artist Leslie García and Hungarian folk singer Szilvia Bognár. We continue on Thursday with Masayoshi Fujita, Róbert Kerényi and Thorn Wych.
Unfortunately OHYUNG had to cancel their European tour due to health issues, we are sorry that they can long longer join us at the Kiezsalon. In their place, we welcome Leslie García.
Built around ritual drumming, vocal incantations and traditional instruments such as the sasara and kuriko, Japanese psych-rock trio Kuunatic consists of keyboardist Fumie Kikuchi, drummer Yuko Araki and bassist Shoko Yoshida. Following their 2021 debut album Gate of Klüna, which the Financial Times dubbed “world music transmogrified into other-world music”, the trio’s new record Wheels of Ömon dives deeper into their self-created sci-fi mythology, with The Wire calling it “a beguiling exercise in psychedelic world-building.”
Leslie García is a renowned sound artist, experimental electronic musician and creative technologist currently based in Berlin through the DAAD Artists Program. As the founder and artistic director of the collective Interspecifics, her work merges art, science and technology to explore the boundaries of sonic perception and the interactions between the human and the non-human. Her interdisciplinary approach blends innovative technological tools with scientific experimentation, guided by a strong inclination toward minimalism and introspection. On October 9, Umor Rex will release Animistic Resonance, her debut album under her own name.
For the last two decades, Szilvia Bognár has been one of the most popular singers in Hungarian folk. Through her solo projects, she strives to extract folk songs from tradition and independently revive them in a modern musical context. At the same time, she is also a prominent representative of traditional performance, serving as an artist-teacher at the Department of Folk Music at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. By selecting from the entire musical heritage of the Hungarian-speaking regions, she offers an insight into the diverse world of Hungarian folk music.
Having opened its doors in 2007, the new Collegium Hungaricum Berlin stands where the original institute existed from 1926 to 1944. With its Bauhaus architecture, the building is reminiscent of a modernist movement that connects Hungary and Germany. Filled with large windows, the cultural hub offers panoramic views and radiant sunlight. For the Kiezsalon we invite you to wander through the Collegium Hungaricum and experience live music across the venue’s various spaces.
