Transatlantic
Music Linking Africa, America and Europe
The Atlantic Ocean – the pond – connects three continents and has become a synonym for hopes and dreams, for adventure, explorers and emigrants. It also evokes the Black Atlantic and the ruthless profiteers whose lucrative network resulted in great suffering and the loss of countless lives. When they crossed the Atlantic, the people who were robbed of their homelands brought their music with them. The »Transatlantic« festival now brings this music to Hamburg.
In the transatlantic congregation of African, European and American civilisations, it was not long before the sounds, rhythms, instruments and musical traditions of the new arrivals, the seamen, the settlers and the natives blended together. A number of musical styles have their roots here. Globalisation is a topic of hot discussion in contemporary society – but it is a development that had already started in music a long time ago, and one that has continued to this day.