Music Without the Machine:
The Return of PEOPLE Festival Berlin
One of a kind festival where 180 musicians come together for a week of unscripted collaboration & performance
Funkhaus, Berlin, 10-11 October
Created by Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Ryan Olson (MDS, Poliça), Vincent Moon (Petites Planètes), André de Ridder, Brandon Reid, Mary Hickson (Sounds from a Safe Harbour) Azar Kazimir & Nadine & Tom Michelberger (Michelberger Hotel, Restaurant & Farm) in 2016, PEOPLE Festival will return this year. A one-of-a-kind festival conceived as collective creation, returns to the historical GDR Radio City Funkhaus, in Berlin.
Across 40 studios, 180 international musicians from all the different backgrounds will come together for one week to create in the boundless potential of unscripted collaboration. With the festival’s announcement, the first wave of names have been revealed already, including artists from/associated with The National, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Portishead, Sinkane, Damien Rice, Arcade Fire, The Barr Brothers, Lambchop, Alt-J, Ben Howard, Bartees Strange, Sons of Mr Green Genes, Efterklang, Owen Pallett, Eliot Sumner, Vincent Moon, POLIÇA, Lucinda Chua, Dirty Projectors, Beirut, Colin Stetson, Shinji Masuko, Woodkid, The Stargaze Orchestra, Msafiri Zawose & many more – full list below.
At the end of the week, on 10th & 11th October, the studio doors will open, premiering 200 shows on 11 stages, unfolding over 12 hours each day. From intimate spaces that fit just 50, to studios that hold 1000, this is a live music gathering in its most raw and unmediated form.
No line-up. No hierarchy. No artist fees. No financial gains. Ticket revenue exists solely to cover costs. PEOPLE open our hearts to what is dear to them.
A new chapter of PEOPLE at FUNKHAUS!
Until a few weeks ago, it was a distant dream, a book full of stories, many still unwritten. Since the stars aligned a few weeks back, PEOPLE Festival explored if another chapter is possible.
In 2016, PEOPLE ignited a vision for a gathering solely dedicated to creating music together. Sweeping aside strategic alliances and meticulously planned performances that shape today’s music industry, PEOPLE is what arose from relationships that grew over many years and from working together.
Considering how the world is rumbling, PEOPLE follow the call to come together. Reuniting to heal a timeline that has been broken, to light a way forward, through the most uplifting and transcendental medium of all: music. Old & new collaborators, friends from afar & close will spend 7 days converging journeys across 40 studios at Funkhaus and the Michelberger Hotel, day and night.
PEOPLE is a composition of people, talents and backgrounds, from around the world, from different cultures, musical talents and life experiences. Some musicians come with an idea, others will just show up and explore the playgrounds.
Tickets are available here: peoplefestival.berlin
This is how it will come together:
The musicians will all arrive in Berlin on Sunday October 4th and get straight to work at Funkhaus, the historic radio and recording centre of the former East German Republic.
The musicians will be distributed throughout the whole week on a schedule that allows them to work in different combinations of artists and spaces at their will. New super bands will form, albums germinate, chairs will fly, artists getting lost in music just to find something beautiful at the other end. And when the weekend comes, the doors will be open for guests to enter and enjoy two full days and nights of live music in its most immediate, fragile and unmediated form. What exactly will happen cannot be predicted. It will be a magical musical moment in time, promising nothing and everything.
Music without the machine, up close and deeply intimate.
PEOPLE invite you to join.
With love and the dream about what’s possible.
At a Glance:
Residency: 04-09. October
Festival: 10-11. October (open for public)
200 shows premiering across 11 studios & stages.
100% of their ticket goes to covering the costs of staging PEOPLE.
Created by Artists for Artists for Others to experience!
Location:
Funkhaus Berlin. Built in the 1950’s, it is the historic site of the radio and recording HQ of the former East German Republic. It’s a maze of studios of varying sizes and allows for an unrivalled sound quality in performance as well as a wide range of audience numbers.
Birth:
The idea was ignited by a small circle of friends: Aaron and Bryce Dessner (The National), Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Ryan Olson (MDS, Poliça), Vincent Moon (Petites Planètes), André de Ridder, Brandon Reid, Mary Hickson (Sounds from a Safe Harbour) Azar Kazimir & Nadine & Tom Michelberger (Michelberger Hotel, Restaurant & Farm).
It came together for the first time as Michelberger Music in Fall 2016. Made possible by other 100 artists who jumped into the unknown and spend a week together. In 2018 it came back as PEOPLE (which was drawn as a giant art piece by Eric Timothy Carlson during the 2016 edition on the main stage) and exploded into thousand stars. A Group of PEOPLE, a community, a network of musicians growing one music piece, or one encounter at a time.
Participants confirmed to date:
All participants are freed of expectations in regards to performances. Everything can happen, nothing has to. Based on experience, everyone on the list ends up performing in various constellations between 5 and 10 times. So the likelihood that weekend ticket holders will see a specific artist on stage is high, but cannot be promised. If someone looks for a specific show of a specific artist, this is not the place. For everyone open to surprise and the wonder of what can happen when 180 artists dedicate a week to create music, will always be at the right spot in the right moment. PEOPLE invite you to find ways to experience in ways that go beyond the big names. To help the building of an environment, that maximizes memorable musical encounters.
What is PEOPLE?
PEOPLE is a steadily growing group of international artists who have come together to create and share their work, with each other and everyone. It was born of a wish to establish an independent and nurturing space in which to make work (generally around music) that is collaborative, spontaneous and expressive in nature and where all unnecessary distractions or obstacles that get in the way are removed.
It is as much about the process of making work and showing all that openly, as the final outcome. PEOPLE aims to ignite creative spirit in everyone.
“Building something based on what comes out of all of us, things we agree on, that unite us: the love for family, for the other, the desire to create, to feel free, to dream in abundance and to care for each other. Taking chances. Setting an example for ourselves. This is what we wish to contribute and experience with PEOPLE.” – Nadine and Tom Michelberger
Line Up:
One of the aspects of this event is that no line up or timetable will be communicated. The aim is to provide a situation where an audience member will not know what they are going to see until they sit down and the lights come up. With this arises the possibility to be genuinely surprised, moved, or opened up to something new. It liberates the artist and audience alike from preconception or expectation.
For an idea of the participants, here a list of the first wave of artists. More to be revealed and some will just show up with no announcement.
Aaron Dessner (The National)
Adam Cohen
Adrien Utley (Portishead)
Ahmed Gallab (Sinkane)
Ajeet Kaur
Aki Bosse (Bosse)
Albert Elmore (Whole Earth)
Aine Delaney
Alex Somers
Alexi Murdoch
Alex Nutter (POLIÇA)
Alican Tezer (Tegel Boys)
Alexander Ridha (Boys Noize)
Amanda Bergman
Andrew Barr (The Barr Brothers)
Andrew Broder
Angel Deradoorian (Deradoorian)
Angie McMahon
Ariel Engle (La Force, Broken Social Scene)
Asher Weisberg (Bon Iver)
Azar Kazimir
Bartees Strange
Ben Ivascu (POLIÇA)
Ben Howard
Ben Lanz
Bendik Giske
Bianca Mangelli
Blake Morgan
Brad Barr (The Barr Brothers)
Bryan Devendorf (The National)
Brian Mcomber (Dirty Projectors)
Bryce Dessner (The National)
Casper Clausen (Efterklang, Liima)
Céline Tison (Quatuor Zaïde)
Charlotte Maclet (Quator Zaïde)
Chris Deyo Braun
Chris Egan
Christophe Abric
Clara Ysé
Cole Weiland
Colin Stetson
Damien Rice
Dane Edwards
Daniela Pes
Drew Christopherson (POLIÇA)
Dustin Zahn
Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band)
Eirik Glambek Bøe (Kings of Convenience)
Eliot Sumner
Eric Blyth
Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience)
Fionn Regan
Flora Hibberd
Francesco Donadello
Friends of Stargaze
Fuensanta Mendéz (Fuensanta)
Gail Ann Dorsey
Gaspar Claus
Greg Fox
Greg Grease
Gugulethu Duma (Dumama)
Gyða Valtýsdóttir
Heather Broderick
Helen Murray
Henning May (AnnenMayKantereit)
Howard Bilerman
Isaac Gale
Isaac Levy
IUMA
Jane Patterson
Jeremy Black
Jesper Munk
Jessica Dessner
Joel Shearer
Joel Wästberg (sir Was)
Jon Coe
Jonas Verwijnen
Josh Berg
Julian Herreros
Juliette Salmona (Quatuor Zaïde)
Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir (múm)
Kurt Wagner (Lampchop)
Laura Jansen
Laurel Sprengelmeyer
Leslie Boulin Raulet (Quatuor Zaïde)
Li-Chin Li
Limpe Fuchs
Lisa Hannigan
Lucinda Chua
Mads Brauer (Efterklang)
Mahito Gezan (Jusangatsu)
Makaya Maccraven
Marc Vilajuana
Markus Sieber (Aukai)
Mary Hickson
Melissa Laveaux
Michelbergers
Mika Akim
Moira Cappilli
Msafiri Zawose
Napoleon Maddox
Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
Owen Pallett
Patrick Watson
Pauline De Lassus (Mina Tindle)
Peder Mannerfelt
Peter Broderick
Rachel Maio
Rasmus Stolberg (Efterklang, Liima)
Rebecca Foon (Esmerine, Thee Silver Mt. Zion)
Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire)
Rozi Plain
Ryan Olson (POLIÇA, Gayngs, Marijuana Deathsquads, and Taggart & Rosewood)
Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre)
Scott Devendorf (The National)
Seth Rosetter
Shabadpret Khalsa
Shahzad Ismaily
Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond)
Shelley Sörensen
Shinji Masuko
Simon Herody
Simrit Kaur
Soema Montenegro
Sons of Mr Green Genes
Sophie Payten
Sylvain Rabourdin
Tatu Rönkkö (Efterklang, Liima)
Theodora Bryne
Thom Green (alt-J)
Todd Dahlhoff
Tomas Crow
Trever Hagen
Tyler Peterson Fjeld
Victoria Canal
Vincent Moon
Walter Laureti
Ye Vagabonds
Yoann Lemoine (Woodkid)
Zach Condon (Beirut)
Zaïde Quator
Full line up: https://peoplefestival.berlin/participants
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