Bridging cultural gaps: German band Mateo feels at home in Pakistan

The band members were excited to perform in a country that is located in a different continent.

KARACHI:

German pop band Mateo has been travelling like rock-stars of late, rushing through the cities in Pakistan as if they were flipping through pages of a magazine.

The five-member band is currently touring Pakistan as part of a cultural initiative of the German cultural centre, Goethe Institut. They will soon be heading to perform in India.

One of the stops for the band in Pakistan was Karachi. The band arrived here after performing a gig in Lahore and has termed their Pakistani experience ‘new’ and ‘exciting’. The five-member band, managed by Sound-so Records’ Christoph Jahn, told The Express Tribune of how they got the opportunity to perform in the subcontinent.

“The band had just won a music competition and was offered to tour Pakistan, India and Afghanistan,” said Jahn.  “Unfortunately, however, the tour to Afghanistan could not materialise due to security concerns.”



Formed in 2006 in the German city, Dresden, Mateo is a line-up comprising five men with Jan Philipp on keyboards and vocals, Bernhard Stiehle on bass, Alexander Henke playing guitars, Friedo Steinke on drums and Steve Kuhnen on the saxophone.

Speaking to The Express Tribune about their experience in Pakistan so far, Steinke said that the opportunity to travel to a country that is in a separate continent was just ‘awesome’. “We usually perform in neighbouring countries. It is really exciting to come to perform here,” he said.

“More than anything, seeing how the audience responds to our kind of music is what interests us the most,” said the bassist, Stiehle. They cited Coldplay, Muse and Maroon 5 as their inspirations and said that even though they have not been able to properly explore Pakistani music as yet, they did get to listen to some local music while travelling in a van.

“Our van driver put on a cassette of Pakistani music,” said Friedo. “It sounded quite interesting and different as the rhythm and instruments used by Pakistani musicians are very different from ours.” He went on to describe how German music is usually based on one or two beats only. “There isn’t much room for experimentation as it becomes too complicated for the German listeners,” he added.

The German band has three albums to its name: Vielmehr, A Live DVD and Achtzehndreißig. The members spoke in detail about their song-writing process. Philipp assumes multiple roles in the band as he also serves as the songwriter. He said that most of his songs stem from his personal experiences.

“Most of the songs that you will hear are a part of me,” said Philipp. “Everything that I hear and experience, I try to weave into my songs.”

Apart from performing a concert at the CAS School in Karachi on Wednesday, the band also conducted a workshop with the students of the music module at the school. “We conducted a workshop with the students regarding German music,” said Kuhnen. “It had a lot of jamming sessions and we got a chance to listen to the student’s music as well.”

For a band that has come to Pakistan for the first time, they have nothing but good opinion of the people of the country. “Initially their parents were reluctant to send them to Pakistan because of the security situation,” said the band manager, Jahn. “But now we have a completely new impression of the country and the people over here. They are extremely loving and welcoming.”

He added that the band can’t wait to visit the country yet again.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2014.