RIAS Berlin Zoom Talk with Berlin swing band that’s fighting coronavirus blues
Andrej Hermlin and his Swingin Hermlins hosted the RIAS Berlin alumni chapter and the weekly RIAS Zoom Talk during his livestream living room concert on September 6. Following the band’s nightly 35-minute livestream performance, Hermlin and members of his band spoke with a dozen journalists on the RIAS Berlin Commission Zoom talk from across the United States as well as with a group of 12 RIAS alumni from Berlin.
The band plays 1930s era swing style big band music and celebrates the original music from the United States in their livestream shows. Hermlin explained that he was worried the coronavirus pandemic shutdown would destroy the music and entertainment industry so he and his band decided to fight that by playing their livestream concerts every evening until the crisis and its economic ravages passes — even if it takes several years.
“Many musicians in Germany are still shocked, they’re scared and confused” when the coronavirus forced the cancellations of all concerts in mid-March, said Andrej Hermlin, adding he had realised he wanted to be a musician as a three-year-old child after listening to a Bennie Goodman record. “I just felt that sitting at home waiting for the hone to ring or waiting for the government to give me money was not really the right way forward. I’m not an American but I think I am completely American when it comes to this kind of thing, the music business.”
His band has done 220 shows in the last six months — sometimes up to three or four per day.
“I just felt the only chance we had was to continue playing and create an invisible bridge to places in Peru, Columbia, the United States, China and Denmark,” Hermlind added. “Our first show was on March 15. We just played and tried it out, and we saw there were 10,000 viewers within an hour. This was the moment that I felt we were on the right path and doing the right ting. It’s about not becoming hopeless and give hope to others. If you recall the music of the 1930s, it was music of hope and it’s the same thing today. We see so many comments ‘you’re the only hope you have’ or ‘we’re waiting all day for 7 pm’. We’re getting comments like this all the time and it’s really encouraging us.”
Hermlin said the band also plays several concerts a week at outdoor theatres and on streetcorners in Berlin for tips — as a way to connect with music-hungry audiences, to keep the musicians playing and earning some tip income and to keep up the spirit of the swing band era.
Hermlin fielded questions from American alumni during the Zoom talk from his living room/dining room concert stage area. He and his children Rachel Hermlin, the band’s vocalist, and David Hermlin, drums and vocals, were fascinated to see some of the American alumni driving their cars while taking part in the Zoom talk. He also fondly recalled some of his concerts in the United States, including the Rainbow Room in New York City, in the past.
The band has already put on 175 livestream shows since they began playing every evening on Instagram and Facebook live every evening in mid-March. He expects there will be a 500th and even a 1,000th show before the crisis is over. Aside from that, the indefatigable band plays three, four and sometimes even five concerts per day on weekends in Berlin — from the street corner of Kollwitzplatz square to the Rose Garden in the Pankow Burger Park to the Orange Room in the Ellington Hotel.
