With Echos der Bruderländer (2024), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) explored the historical and present-day ties between the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and its socialist partner states. The project broadened the lens on German history, shifting focus away from the Federal Republic of Germany to highlight the global entanglements of the GDR. Central to this were the stories and lived experiences of migrants from Cuba, Mozambique, and Vietnam, and other so-called brother countries, who came through labour migration, educational exchange, or solidarity programs. Their perspectives offer insight into a transnational East German reality shaped by cultural exchange and political alliances.

Building on the workshop Tasting the Past – Hearing the Present: Towards Disrupting Intergenerational Silence by hany tea (part of Echos der Bruderländer), HKW collaborates with curators hany tea and Amuleto Manuela to realize a project that centres music as a form of remembrance and transgenerational dialogue.

Two internal sequential workshops bring together former contract workers from Cuba, Mozambique, and Vietnam, and their children. Through personal storytelling, shared memories, and musical traditions, participants explore how music can hold, transmit, and transform historical experiences, especially those marginalized in the context of the GDR.

The first workshop focuses on migration and life in the GDR; the second explores strategies for preserving and passing on these narratives through musical memory work and creative tools. This final public programme on 22 November 2025 invites the public into this process—through sonic offerings such as concerts, lecture performances, conversations, and shared listening, unpacking the complexity of memory and migration through sound.