Previous Articles

Friendship is in the “AIR”

France and Germany celebrate their bilateral relations with a Festival in BBT that served as an homage to the victims of the Nice Terrorist Attack

July 20th, 2016
Nicolás Pan-Montojo Sisniega, News from Berlin
20160720_Friendship-is-in-the-AIR.jpg

France and Germany celebrated their bilateral relations with a series of concerts this weekend, during the “German-French Festival”. The festival was supported by both German and French enterprises and public institutions. The concerts, with the French-touch duo Air as the headline act, were also an improvised homage to the victims of the Nice terrorist attack which took place on Friday, with a statement made by H. E. Amb. Phillipe Etienne condemning the tragic events and an emotive minute of silence that proved once again, the solidarity between both countries.

Following the tragic events which took place in Nice on Friday, the first day of the festival had to be cancelled. But, as stated by H. E. Amb. Phillipe Etienne in his statement before the concert of Air, “we can’t give terrorists what they want: for us to live in fear, to abandon our way of living. To continue with our normal life is the best act of resistance we can take”. And the Berliners showed both their resistance and their solidarity with a minute of silence, where the enormous crowd gathered in the Parisian Square stood silent as a symbol of their grief and their respect for the victims.

Being celebration a major act of resistance, it couldn’t have gone better. The French synth-pop band Air, whose creators Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin have been unanimously praised for their work, celebrated 20 years of musical innovation with an open-air concert at the Brandenburg Gate.

The duo from Versailles, whose careers launched during the 90s, are well known for their French Touch. Heavenly Harmonies, atmospheric soundscapes and sovereign vocal effects topped each other to create a chill, but festive atmosphere. The public danced and relaxed with extemporal hits like “Sexy Boy” or “Alpha Beta Gaga” during the hour and a half of pure musical joy.

At the bottom of the square, the French Embassy was illumined with red, blue and white, the colors of the French Republic. A visual symbol of the celebration: The French colors glowing in the heart of the Berlin night, next to the Brandenburg Gate.

News from Berlin