Event: August 2017
Wed
23/8/17
09:00 PM
Good Music, God, and the Devil
Talk
Deutschlandfunk Kultur Talk with Dirk Schneider, Hartwig Vens + Guests
Some may still dismiss, with an amused shake of the head, the fact that Kanye West considers himself to be Yeezus. But when a Sufjan-Stevens concert is presented as a pop worship service, one must ask her- or himself, as a non-believing fan, how to relate. Is it possible to fully appreciate the work of an artist if one doesn’t subscribe to that artist’s belief system?
Inversely, religious institutions also long had problems with pop music – until the 1960s, when Larry Norman arrived on the scene in the USA. Norman asked »why should the devil have all the good music?« and founded Christian rock, i.e. rock with a Christian message – not the devil’s message. In Germany, too, there have been successful bands in this genre: take Koenige & Priester or Allee der Kosmonauten, for instance. So, to what extent are faith and pop compatible? Can pop that strives toward moral goodness also be aesthetically good? Hartwig Vens and Dirk Schneider, both editors at Deutschlandfunk Kultur, will explore these questions with their guests.
The talk will be held in German.
About Pop-Kultur Berlin 2017 23 to 25 August: www.pop-kultur.berlin/en/
Haus für Poesie
Kulturbrauerei
Knaackstr. 97, 10435 Berlin
Entrance fee:
Tagesticket: 28,50 € / Festivalpass: 67,- €
Tickets online