Germany will throw a giant street party next month to mark 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, with light shows, Beethoven and a rendition of David Bowie’s Cold War hit Heroes.
Techno beats, rock anthems and on-stage talks by former anti-communist dissidents will be part of the festivities to mark the anniversary of Nov. 9, 1989, when people power spelled the death-knell of East Germany.
“With the street festival, we will celebrate the peaceful revolution and the fall of the Wall,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters on Tuesday.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
“We will be thinking of the many courageous and determined people whose persistent protests made possible the happy events of Nov. 9, 1989 and, subsequently, German unity.”
On that day East German border guards, overwhelmed by large crowds, threw open the gates to West Berlin, allowing free passage through the detested barrier for the first time since it was built in 1961 and spelling the beginning of the end of the Iron Curtain.
To mark the anniversary, British singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel will perform Heroes, which Bowie recorded in a studio close to the Wall in 1977 when he was living in what was then West Berlin.
Photo: AFP
照片:法新社
Entertainment will range from the orchestra of the Berlin State Opera to a breakdance troupe and Leipzig electronic music producer Paul Kalkbrenner.
Also on stage will be veteran German rock singer Udo Lindenberg, whose 1983 hit Sonderzug nach Pankow (Special train to Pankow) mocked East Germany’s last leader Erich Honecker (1912-1994) for denying him permission to perform.
Celebrations will kick off two days earlier with the launch of an ambitious art project featuring 8,000 illuminated white balloons pegged to the ground along a 15km stretch of the Wall’s former path.
On Nov. 9, the balloons will be released from their ropes and symbolically set free into the night sky, to the stirring sounds of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
Former East German dissidents will speak about life in the East and the night everything changed — among them singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann, author and filmmaker Freya Klier and Berlin politician Ulrike Poppe.
“The party mood that night was genuine and insane,” recalled Dresden-born TV star and director Jan Josef Liefers, who will host the show.
Berlin senate spokesperson Richard Meng predicted that “it will be an emotional weekend when Berliners get to celebrate the happiest day in the city’s recent history.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up a Christian pastor’s daughter in the East, is set to inaugurate a new permanent exhibition at the Berlin Wall Memorial.
(AFP)
德國民眾將於下個月辦一場超級街頭派對,紀念柏林圍牆倒塌二十五週年。節目包括光影秀、貝多芬樂曲與大衛‧鮑伊的暢銷歌《英雄》。
週年慶祝活動的部分節目,將有電音舞曲、經典搖滾以及過去反共異議人士登台演說。活動目的是要慶祝民眾在一九八九年十一月九日這天敲響東德喪鐘二十五週年。
德國政府發言人史蒂芬‧塞柏特週二告訴記者:「我們將藉這次的街頭嘉年華會,慶祝那場和平革命與柏林圍牆倒塌。」
他說:「我們將會憶及過去許多英勇且意志堅定的人民,正因他們堅持不懈的抗爭,才能成就一九八九年十一月九日的快樂事件,以及後來的德國統一。」
在那一天,東德邊境守衛因不敵擠爆的人群,開啟通往西柏林的圍牆門,讓民眾恣意通過這道令人嫌惡的障礙。此舉是自一九六一年柏林圍牆築起後,首度為所有人敞開大門,並且也讓人嗅到鐵幕正要垮台。
英國歌手暨作曲家彼得‧蓋布瑞爾將以演唱《英雄》來慶祝此活動;這首曲子是鮑伊一九七七年在柏林圍牆附近的一間錄音室錄製的,他當時住在昔日的西柏林。
其他餘興節目涵蓋多樣,從柏林國家歌劇院樂團、霹靂舞蹈團,到萊比錫電子音樂製作人保羅‧考克布雷納的表演都有。
此外,登台演出的還有德國資深搖滾歌手林悟道,其一九八三年錄製的暢銷曲《前往潘科的特別列車》,諷刺東德最後一位國家主席埃里希‧何內克(1912-1994)拒絕他前往東德演出。
慶祝活動將提前兩天起跑,屆時會有一項規模宏大的藝術裝置,八千顆發光白氣球將固定於地面,順著綿延十五公里的圍牆舊道一字排開。
等到十一月九日當天,所有氣球將在貝多芬第九號交響曲激動人心的樂音下,從繩索中釋放上夜空,象徵重獲自由。
前東德異議份子將發表關於東德生活以及那夜改變一切的演說,其中包括德國歌手兼填詞家沃夫‧比爾曼、作家兼導演弗萊亞‧克利爾與柏林政治家烏爾里克‧波佩。
德勒斯登出生的電視明星兼導演揚‧約瑟夫‧利費爾斯回憶道:「那一夜,民眾樂瘋了似地難掩狂歡情緒。」利費爾斯將主持這場慶祝活動。
柏林市議會發言人理查‧蒙預期表示:「當柏林民眾能藉此活動慶祝城市近代史上最快樂的一天,這將會是個令人感動的週末。」
自幼隨牧師父親在東德長大的德國總理安潔拉‧梅克爾,也將為柏林圍牆遺址紀念公園的新常設展舉行開幕式。
(法新社/翻譯:林亞蒂)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110