Coming To Berlin reflects, through the lives and music of migrants, settlers and newcomers, how a constantly in flux city with a tumultuous history has evolved into the de facto cultural capital of Europe. And how at the heart of this, electronic music and club culture play a unique role. A plea for multiculturalism and a love letter to the borderless potential of music, the book breaks the tradition of Berlin’s perception as techno ground zero and shows the true diversity and richness that make up this city.

Coming To Berlin mixes imagination and interview, psychogeography and narrative, humour and horror. Each chapter follows encounters with people who have made the city their own. We catch glimpses of the 1980s punk and art movement, the Genialle Dillentanten, and how it led towards the birth of modern club culture in the city. We follow the Turkish hip-hop scene on the streets of Kreuzberg. And under threat from gentrification, into the post-pandemic world where clubs, a thirty-year long pulse stopped, we hang out with artists reshaping electronic music into new genres and even new genders.

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"Paul’s writing combines the fresh perspectives of the outsider-becoming-an- insider, the informed knowledge of a historian and commentator, and the passion and expressivity of a dance floor afficionado. Coming to Berlin does what every book on the dance floor should do: it explores its potential to bring people together in a space that always carries the promise of a better world." Tim Lawrence (author of Love Will Save The Day)

Author Biography

Paul Hanford is a writer, podcaster and DJ living in Berlin. He was born in Dorset, England in 1974. As a music-maker, he was part of Brothers In Sound who released three EPs and an LP on Regal between 1998-2001. Moving to London, he spent ten years working as a music consultant, being a full-time DJ in bars and events across London as well as presenting radio and TV on Hoxton Radio and London Live. He moved to Berlin in 2017 with an award from the Arts Council Of England and set up the Lost and Sound podcast.