UNEXPECTED LESSONS 2: Meshwar Mixtapes – Intro to Afghanistan
Listening session with DJ DumTak & Homaira
Musik
© DJ DumTak
“Meshwar Mixtapes“ is a listening series initiated by DJ DumTak, in which hosts guide the audience through personal and collective histories. Stories, music, and projected translations of song texts are thus woven into an intimate, communal encounter. Under-represented and marginalised experiences are placed at the centre of each event.
“Intro to Afghanistan” is part of the “UNEXPECTED LESSONS - Knowledges of Body and Sound” series. It will be hosted by Homaira, a scientist born in Afghanistan. This listening session will lead us towards hidden treasures in Afghan culture, towards its cultural heritage, and the longing of an unknown and often unheard narrative.
The second part of the series “UNEXPECTED LESSONS 2: Music as Resistance” is dedicated to music and dance practices as forms of resistance. A Dabke workshop with Nancy Naser Al Deen will take place alongside the “Meshwar Mixtapes - Intro to Afghanistan” listening session.
Visitor Information
In English.
Programme
UNEXPECTED LESSON 2: Music as Resistance
Sat, 01 August 2026
17 – 19 h: „LA PALABRE Space“ – Tea, Reading & Resting Room with artistic interventions*
17 h: „Meshwar Mixtapes – Intro to Afghanistan“ – Listening-Session with DJ DumTak & Homaira
Sun, 02 August 2026
17 – 19 h: „LA PALABRE Space“ – Tea, Reading & Resting Room with artistic interventions*
17 h: „Dabke-Workshop“ – Nancy Naser Al Deen
*The program at LA PALABRE Space is curated by Arantxa Ciafrino.
Cast
Initiator „Meshwar Mixtapes“
DJ DumTak
Moderation
Homaira
Cast
Initiator „Meshwar Mixtapes“
DJ DumTak
Moderation
Homaira
Biographies
Homaira is an Afghan-born researcher raised in a German village, currently focused on gendered migration policies. With roots in Herat and the Jalalabad region, she speaks both Pashto and Farsi.
Deema Amr aka DJ DumTak is a Berlin based multidisciplinary artist working across film, music, and cultural programming, with a focus on storytelling and sonic research. She brings SWANA sounds into the city’s club scene. In 2023, she founded Meshwar Mixtapes to create space for dialogue, context, and deeper cultural understanding through listening.
Biographies
Homaira is an Afghan-born researcher raised in a German village, currently focused on gendered migration policies. With roots in Herat and the Jalalabad region, she speaks both Pashto and Farsi.
Deema Amr aka DJ DumTak is a Berlin based multidisciplinary artist working across film, music, and cultural programming, with a focus on storytelling and sonic research. She brings SWANA sounds into the city’s club scene. In 2023, she founded Meshwar Mixtapes to create space for dialogue, context, and deeper cultural understanding through listening.
Further Information
The series UNEXPECTED LESSONS – Knowledges of Body and Sound, which will take place from May 2026 to February 2027 at Radialsystem, explores the plural knowledge of dance, body, and sound. Interdisciplinary perspectives and practitioners from the African continent, the diaspora, and beyond will engage in dialogue with Berlin's dynamic dance scene.
The focus is on the social and political dimensions of dance, knowledge systems in music, the body as a living archive, movement as healing, a decolonial perspective on the body and dance, and a critical examination of global dance history. Performances, talks, listening sessions, and workshops transform knowledge into experience and movement.
The series kicks off with an opening program from May 24 to 27, 2026, centred around the solo performance “Somewhere At The Beginning” by Germaine Acogny, an icon of African contemporary dance, with workshops, talks, and the Berlin premiere of the documentary film “Germaine Acogny – Die Essenz des Tanzes.”
The series is curated by Isabel Raabe (artistic director) and Celina Baljeet Basra (co-curator) and accompanied by Prof. Dr. Mariama Diagne.
Programme
UNEXPECTED LESSON 2: Music as Resistance
Sat, 01 August 2026
17 – 19 h: „LA PALABRE Space“ – Tea, Reading & Resting Room with artistic interventions*
17 h: „Meshwar Mixtapes – Intro to Afghanistan“ – Listening-Session with DJ DumTak & Homaira
Sun, 02 August 2026
17 – 19 h: „LA PALABRE Space“ – Tea, Reading & Resting Room with artistic interventions*
17 h: „Dabke-Workshop“ – Nancy Naser Al Deen
*The program at LA PALABRE Space is curated by Arantxa Ciafrino.
Further Information
The series UNEXPECTED LESSONS – Knowledges of Body and Sound, which will take place from May 2026 to February 2027 at Radialsystem, explores the plural knowledge of dance, body, and sound. Interdisciplinary perspectives and practitioners from the African continent, the diaspora, and beyond will engage in dialogue with Berlin's dynamic dance scene.
The focus is on the social and political dimensions of dance, knowledge systems in music, the body as a living archive, movement as healing, a decolonial perspective on the body and dance, and a critical examination of global dance history. Performances, talks, listening sessions, and workshops transform knowledge into experience and movement.
The series kicks off with an opening program from May 24 to 27, 2026, centred around the solo performance “Somewhere At The Beginning” by Germaine Acogny, an icon of African contemporary dance, with workshops, talks, and the Berlin premiere of the documentary film “Germaine Acogny – Die Essenz des Tanzes.”
The series is curated by Isabel Raabe (artistic director) and Celina Baljeet Basra (co-curator) and accompanied by Prof. Dr. Mariama Diagne.
Visitor Information
In English.
Credits
The series ‘UNEXPECTED LESSONS – Knowledges of Body and Sound’ is supported by the LOTTO Foundation Berlin. In cooperation with the Betty Center for Movement Research in Dance Studies at LMU Munich. An event as part of the TALKING OBJECTS LAB.
Media partners Radialsystem: taz. die tageszeitung, tip Berlin, The Berliner.
Credits
The series ‘UNEXPECTED LESSONS – Knowledges of Body and Sound’ is supported by the LOTTO Foundation Berlin. In cooperation with the Betty Center for Movement Research in Dance Studies at LMU Munich. An event as part of the TALKING OBJECTS LAB.
Media partners Radialsystem: taz. die tageszeitung, tip Berlin, The Berliner.
“Meshwar Mixtapes“ is a listening series initiated by DJ DumTak, in which hosts guide the audience through personal and collective histories. Stories, music, and projected translations of song texts are thus woven into an intimate, communal encounter. Under-represented and marginalised experiences are placed at the centre of each event.
“Intro to Afghanistan” is part of the “UNEXPECTED LESSONS - Knowledges of Body and Sound” series. It will be hosted by Homaira, a scientist born in Afghanistan. This listening session will lead us towards hidden treasures in Afghan culture, towards its cultural heritage, and the longing of an unknown and often unheard narrative.
The second part of the series “UNEXPECTED LESSONS 2: Music as Resistance” is dedicated to music and dance practices as forms of resistance. A Dabke workshop with Nancy Naser Al Deen will take place alongside the “Meshwar Mixtapes - Intro to Afghanistan” listening session.
Cast
Initiator „Meshwar Mixtapes“
DJ DumTak
Moderation
Homaira
Biographies
Homaira is an Afghan-born researcher raised in a German village, currently focused on gendered migration policies. With roots in Herat and the Jalalabad region, she speaks both Pashto and Farsi.
Deema Amr aka DJ DumTak is a Berlin based multidisciplinary artist working across film, music, and cultural programming, with a focus on storytelling and sonic research. She brings SWANA sounds into the city’s club scene. In 2023, she founded Meshwar Mixtapes to create space for dialogue, context, and deeper cultural understanding through listening.
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