Writing’s on the Wall: On the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall

“Indian and German artists will spray and paint on concrete replica pieces of the wall — remembering what the wall looked like from its free, Western side. The wall no longer separates but stands for bridges built between Germany and India,” said the German Consul General, Michael Siebert as part of his statement to the press. These concrete blocks are currently being worked on in Hoescht House, which houses the German consulate in Mumbai.

The well-guarded, spiffy 17-storey Hoescht House seems like an unlikely venue for an urban culture project. But Walta has a gleam in his eyes as he navigates the dusty ninth floor — currently being renovated — with its bare grey walls, the cement still visible. “This is a lot like Berlin,” he says, “The fact that we are utilising a space that is still under construction, for hip hop, is something that would happen there.”

Walta’s tryst with hip hop started in his teens. He was lucky to be in West Germany in his early years and like everybody who was spray painting at the time, even Walta took a shot at getting his tag on the Wall. “I was 19 when the Wall came down. I remember when I first travelled to Berlin by car, it was a very strange and eerie feeling to cross the West German border and ride the East German highway.
When the wall came down, it was one of the happiest moments of my life,” he says. Other than the obvious symbols that the wall stands for — freedom and democracy — Walta is using this project to break a few walls of his own.

The promoter first came to India in 2011, and met local hip hop artists from across the country. Through an exchange of ideas with events
and workshops, Walta infused energy in the nascent hip-hop scene in the country. But lack of funds has kept ‘The Indo-German Hip-Hop Project’ on hold.

“A few events in fits and starts do not have a lasting impact. I am trying to get enough funding to set up a series of events that will lead to a large festival across the country next year,” says Walta, who established Germany’s first hip-hop music label MZEE Records in 1992. He is hoping the Berlin Wall project will showcase the talent in India and thereby help loosen the purse strings of various embassies whose members will be visiting the art exhibit.

There is movement on this front already. In the next few months, a three-city tour by old school hip-hop DJ, Marc Hype, will be held and a graffiti event has also been planned at Auroville in Pondicherry with writers from Germany and India. “t has been proven that hip hop helps disempowered people and keeps them out of trouble. I want to use it as an instrument of change,” says Walta.