Diasporic Echoes im Avant-Garten

All Diasporic Echoes events

NDR Kultur Review

Deutschlandfunk Kultur Feature

At 18:30 (Reading in German) Gianni Jovanovic was born in Rüsselsheim in 1978. At 14, his parents married him, and at 17 he was a father of two. In his early 20s, he came out as gay. He says about it himself: »The most important decision in my life was my coming out. It saved my life.« In the meantime, he is a grandfather of two and one of the best-known voices of the Rom*nja and Sinti*zze in the German-speaking context. With the journalist Oyindamola Alashe Jovanovic reports in »Ich, ein Kind der kleinen Mehrheit« about his life: about the social position of the Rom*nja and Sinti*zze in Germany but also about male images, linked with his own homosexuality. With a lot of charm and humor he describes the stories of his life, especially in painful places. In doing so, he sketches his vision of an anti-racist, diverse society. Like no other, Gianni Jovanovic allows ambivalences - without shame or embellishment »infectious and life-affirming« (Alice Hasters). As part of the Diasporic Echoes reading series, Gianni Jovanovic and Oyindamola Alashe will talk about and read from their joint book at the Forest Stage in the Festival Garden.

Gianni Jovanovic, born in 1978, is an entrepreneur, activist, performer and comedian. As an activist, he is committed to the rights of Rom*nja and Sinti*zze and is the founder of the association »Queer Roma«. With various projects and initiatives, he also advocates for people of the LGBTIQ community and the topics of personal development & empowerment, diversity & intersectional discrimination. The novel »Nachts, wenn Schatten aus dunklen Ecken kommen« by Katja Behrens (2016), is partly based on the life of Gianni Jovanovic. His own book debut »Ich, ein Kind der kleinen Mehrheit« was published by Aufbau Verlag in March 2022.

Oyindamola Alashe was born in the USA in 1978 and grew up in the Ruhr area and Cologne. She works as a journalist and author and has lived in Paris and Yaoundé, among other places. Her main topics include education, inclusion, health and family. The single mother has been organizing anti-racist projects and supporting activists of the LGBTQI+ community for years. She shares a close friendship with Gianni Jovanovic.

At 20:30 In March the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre invited over 20 young Ukrainian musicians to study and live in Hamburg for at least one semester. The composer Serafim Ivanov has completely rearranged a repertoire for an evening with this unusual cast.

A three-week series of events brings together diasporic voices at the Waldbühne with readings and concerts.

The war in Ukraine resulted in a wave of solidarity and an openness to welcome people fleeing from this war. Because we love this energy and want it for all those who have to leave their homeland, every Thursday to Saturday the Summer Festival, in cooperation with the ZEIT Foundation and NDR, presents authors and musicians and their stories about times of upheaval and displacement, of the search for belonging and empowerment, and of global political and family entanglements. Each evening begins with a reading, including a discussion with the authors and NDR journalists, and continues with acoustic concerts in a small setting (programmed by Anas Aboura und Alexei Volinchik).