At the heart of Sound Base Berlin are the multitude of scenes and communities that shape the musical landscape in Berlin, often through queer, migrant, and diasporic perspectives. Each evening of the series combines live performances with conversations and DJ sets. The second event focuses on artists working at the intersection of memory, the present, and new forms of expression. The programme brings together two Berlin-based duos who engage with musical influences from Iran in very different ways.
Concert one: Dounime
Dounime—Persian for ‘two halves that form a whole’—is a Berlin-based duo comprising percussionist Roshanak Rafani and oud player Fatemeh Dehghani. The interplay of their instruments and voices is characterized by the rhythmic cycles and harmonic structures of traditional Persian music as well as a clear yet poetic dramaturgy. Their performance at Sound Base Berlin begins in the musical mode of Dastgāh-e Navā and leads via the melancholic Āvāz-e Eṣfahān back to Navā. In their artistic dialogue, Rafani and Dehghani also leave room for solo moments and individual expression within a larger whole.
Concert two: Duos Duet
Duos Duet was formed in Tehran in 2017 by classically trained musicians Golsana Shenasaei and Niki Yaghmaee. Alongside their work as part of classical and contemporary music ensembles, they created a platform for their own artistic practice spanning concerts, performances, and interdisciplinary formats. In addition to Shenasaei’s cello and Yaghmaee’s violin and viola, Duos Duet’s work incorporates loops and electronic sound processing. Drawing on Iranian traditions and the soundscapes of neighbouring regions, their pieces oscillate between composition and improvisation. Their work revolves around questions of home, identity, and migration—and the possibility of translating personal experiences into sound.
Both projects operate in an in between space—where musical traditions are reimagined and stories are carried across borders. Giving voice to individual and collective experiences, these sounds are the expression of a generation that is repositioning itself.
Conversation with Anahita Sadighi, Yalda Yazdani, and Yalda Zamani
Moderated by Aida Baghernejad, in English