Music of our Neighbors

Nestled amongst the vineyards in the Main River Valley lies the picturesque German town of Würzburg. What musics do the people of this provincial Franconian city play, sing, and dance to? With a third of the 130,000 residents having a migration background, diverse traditions from across five continents can be heard in our neighbors’ homes. The feature film Music of Our Neighbors comprises a series of six intimate portraits of musicians and dancers in and around Würzburg who perform Spanish Flamenco dance, Canadian Métis music and indigenous rock, German accordion music, Indian Kathak and Bollywood dance, Arabic rap, African drumming, and Bolivian folkloric music and dance. These portraits reveal the often unrecognized cultural spectrum of rapidly diversifying provincial Europe. As individual artists share their struggles, joys, and life journeys, we see how music and dance are creatively used to cope with challenges, connect to heritage, build new communities, and bridge cultural divides. 

Prof. Juniper Hill (Producer, Co-Director, Researcher)
Dr. Cornelia Günauer (Co-Director, Researcher)
Steffen Boseckert (Co-Director, Cinematography)

Assistants: Henrik Engstler, Stella Marte,
Paula Mendizabal Palacios, Deborah Olivier,
Helene Wetterich, Dr. Oliver Wiener

The Portraits

Intercultural Learning Materials

Teachers and lecturers are welcome to use the film portraits in their classes.

The following worksheets engage key cultural, social, and/or artistic concepts from each film portrait. They support a comprehensive learning process relevant to multiple subjects (social sciences, cultural studies, regional studies, music, dance, etc.). The exercises within each workshop are designed with multiple difficulty levels, from easier to more challenging, so that the instructor can select which exercises are most appropriate for the level of their students/pupils. In general, the worksheets “African drumming from stereotype to personal identity” and “Musik in Everyday Life” are somewhat simpler, the worksheets “A Syrian Rapper in Germany” and “Dance as cultural expression” as more intermediary, and the worksheets “Traditions without borders” and “Cultural heritage from South America.”

The following video tutorials are designed to help get learners actively singing, drumming, and playing Arabic music and cooking Syrian food. The videos are in German with English subtitles (turn on the English subtitles in the YouTube video settings).

Worksheets

   African drumming from stereotype to personal identity -- "Mbonda Lokito Children's Aid” with André Mabiala on drums and balafon 

   Musik in Everyday Life – Feelings and Connections -- “Franconian Groove” with Bernd Dittl

   A Syrian Rapper in Germany -- “From 8 Mile Road to Min Ana” with Niro Degen

   Dance as cultural expression -- “Franconian Kathak and Bollyfit” with Elizabeth Elengical

   Traditions without borders – Intercultural Artists with Rob Collomb and Mercedes Sebald Arguisuelas

   Cultural heritage from South America -- "Family is home" with the Rosenbaum family

The worksheets can also be accessed in Padlet.

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