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Where were you when the Wall came down?
Do you remember the feeling — the hope, the joy, the impossible becoming possible?

Enjoy the collaborative playlist 9NOV1989 which sheds new light on the music from 1989/ 1990 and its history, creating a collaborative playlist that captures the spirit of Europe of the era of the end the 80’s and the beginning of the 90s— through the songs that moved us, united us, made us dance, and gave us hope about a better future.

 

The project is created in a collaboration with the German Consulate General Istanbul @gk.istanbul for the occasion of the Day of German Unity/ Empfang zum Tag der Deutschen Einheit/ Almanya Birlik Günü 2025 in Istanbul.

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Enormous thanks to everyone who responded to the call and joined our project and shared their musical memories.

9Nov1989: A Testament to Collective Memory and Shared Humanity

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9Nov1989 is a living testament to the power of collective memory and shared human experience. It is a project where history is not locked away in textbooks or frozen in monuments, but brought to life through stories, memories, and music. At its heart, 9Nov1989 invites people from around the world to share personal reflections on their lives around the pivotal years of 1989 and 1990—what the fall of the Berlin Wall meant to them, and how it shaped their own small, personal worlds.

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The project embraces music as a powerful narrative tool—a soundtrack of memory. The songs we listened to at the time were more than just background noise; they were part of how we made sense of the world, how we expressed hope, fear, change, and belonging. They are not just melodies, but markers of personal and collective history.

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Contrary to the neat timelines found in history books, real memory is rarely linear or precise. It is emotional, fragmented, unreliable, and deeply personal. The “big history” of revolutions and political change often exists in our minds as a backdrop to intimate moments: falling in love, saying goodbye to a relative, starting a new job, going on a holiday, or playing with friends. To truly capture the spirit of 1989, we must look beyond the headlines and into the everyday lives that unfolded before, during, and after that moment in time.

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The fall of the Berlin Wall—and the broader collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe—was not just a political event. It was a cultural and emotional shift, a moment when millions were thrust into a new reality. Political freedom came hand in hand with uncertainty, hope was often tangled with fear, and national change played out in deeply personal ways.

9Nov1989 seeks to reflect this complexity. By focusing not only on the historic event itself but also on the years surrounding it, the project paints a fuller picture of an era marked by both transformation and continuity. It connects personal stories with global events, reminding us that history is made not only in parliaments and protests, but also in kitchens, classrooms, concert halls, and crowded city squares.

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By keeping the memory of November 9, 1989 alive, the project challenges us to confront the walls that still divide us today—whether physical, political, social, or psychological. It invites us to reflect on themes of freedom, resistance, division, and reconciliation in ways that resonate with our own lives and times.

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In doing so, 9Nov1989 reminds us that history is not just something we inherit—it’s something we carry, something we shape, and something we share.

Vita - Lucio Dalla and Gianni Morandi

I was 12, with just a few pirated cassettes and the radio as my only window to music. “Vita” by Lucio Dalla and Gianni Morandi (on my father’s fake “Dallamorandi” tape), and “Tell Me Now” by Pino Daniele (a copied cassette from a friend’s Schizzechea album). On the radio, it was RAF “Cosa resterà di questi anni ’80” and the anthem of that summer turning into a new decade: “Notti Magiche” by Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini — celebrating with the Germans their World Cup victory on the Italian beaches, stolen from Maradona’s Argentina.

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Heroes - David Bovie

I was 14 and the sound of the Europe and fall of the wall for a Brazilian girl living so far away was Neneh Cherry - "Buffalo Stance", 
NENA - "99 Luftballons" the German version of course! and  The Cure - "Close to me" "Heroes" of Bowie of course!

Octopus‘s Garden - The Beatles 

When the wall fell in November 1989 I was on vacation with my family in the south of France and this was my favorite song that fall.

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Millionär - Prinzen

The band was a big part of my childhood. We listened to them a lot at home, and my memory of this song is vivid: It’s 1991, and we are taking our first trip to the West. My parents, aunts, uncles, and all the cousins drove to Brittany, France, for summer vacation — to see the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. This album was blasting in our cars, and we kids, as well as our parents, sang along loudly. The title means: I want to be a millionaire.

Love Shack - The B-52's 

So many Memories. Here are some tracks that come to my mind.

The B-52's : Love Shack
Soul II Soul : Back to life (However do you want me)
Prince The Future

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Der Erdbeermund - Culture Beat Featuring Jo Van Nelson

That is the sound of the time for me.

 Arahja - KULT

Fast, aggressive music and lyrics full of strong words - that is the soundtrack of the time.
Kult " Arahja " and "45 - 48" 

Dezerter " Spytaj policjanta "

Siekiera " Misiowie Puszyści "
Maanam " Nocny Patrol "

Brygada Kryzys " Centrala "
Oddział Zamknięty " Ten wasz świat "


80s/90s music from Poland is brilliant!

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Tajči - Hajde Da Ludujemo
 

I was four years old when Tajči represented Yugoslavia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990 in Zagreb with this song. I lived in Switzerland in a small village with a population of nearly 2,400. My family, who had migrated from Ex-Yugoslavia, was very conservative, filled with tragic stories and many worries. For me, Tajči represented the complete opposite: freedom and joy.

Wind of change - Scorpions

For this time during the „reunion“ I remember first of all „Wind of Change“ from Scorpions. I also remember lots of important DDR Punk Bands during this time and it’s rising right-wing extremism those who reflected that time in their songs:
#Herbst in Peking: Bakschischrepublik & Geisterbahn #Feeling B: Artig & Alles ist so schön bunt hier #Die Skeptiker: Dada in Berlin & Deutschland halt’s Maul #Schleim-Keim: In der Kneipe zur trockenen Kehle. Last but not least: Wolf Biermann. 

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Fight da faida - Frankie hi-nrg mc

This song is part of my youth (1990), especially in the squats of Bologna (though not only there), where underground culture flourished. The artists' commitment to political issues, which characterized this crucial period in European history - marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall - was predominant in all forms of expression, especially music.

Dönence - Barış Manço

Europe had its Wind of Change by Scorpions, we had Dönence Song by Barış Manço. The lyrics brought a metaphoric description of the transformation of the world order. "Somewhere far away the sun is rising" - Uzaklarda bir yerlerde güneşler doğuyor!

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Berlin - Dagmara

Here a clip of a song with the title BERLIN, from 1989 (just before the Wall) It is the first one that came in my mind... Realized in France few months before November. My husband was working as music publisher was producing it. Dagmar was sleeping on a sofa at home)

 

https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/i07241530/dagmar-berlin

 

My father, Bernard Heidsieck, a poet, was invited for a reading in East-Berlin in the beginning of November 89. Invited me to come. I was journalist and I traveled during the eighties mostly in the eastern part of Europe. Arriving in Berlin for the fall of the Wall has been the gift for a lifetime. I lived the event during a week. Still have on a wall a banner with written : FORWÄRTS GENOSSEN, DIE AVANT_GARDE IST HINTER EUCH HER

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