Divan Music Festival — The Arabic Cultural House Berlin

A Cultural House with a Garden, a Festival with Heart

"Der Divan — Das Arabische Kulturhaus" is an unusual Berlin institution: a cultural facility opened in 2017 in the Villa Schützallee in Berlin-Zehlendorf (Steglitz-Zehlendorf district) that serves as a bridge between the Arab world and Berlin's urban society. Since 2023, the house has been organizing its own Divan Music Festival — a small, carefully curated festival series dedicated to contemporary music from the Arab diaspora.

What Makes the Festival Special

Unlike most summer festivals in Berlin, the Divan Music Festival takes place on a manageable scale — in the historic garden of the Villa Schützallee, in two intimate rooms of the house, and occasionally in the covered pavilion. The format is hybrid:

• Concerts: Arabic jazz, Tarab music, oriental chamber music, crossover with Western classical music
• Jam Sessions: open improvisation evenings with local and international musicians
• Lectures: musicological and cultural analyses
• Film Screenings: often as an open-air program in the garden
• Culinary Program: Arabic mezze and drinks

The History of the Festival

The first edition took place on July 2, 2023, with over 300 visitors — the focus was on Arabic Jazz, with the Tarek Yamani Trio and the Ralf Zielke Quintet opening a jam session tradition that continues to this day. At the 2nd edition in 2024, the Trio d'Iroise and the Syriab Trio performed, among others, in a program bridging Bach variations and Arabic music, complemented by an international choir under Omar Znkawan. The 3rd edition in 2025 already saw the festival attract over 400 visitors.

Berlin as an Arab Music Metropolis

Berlin is now one of the most important centers for Arab music in Europe — with a large Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and North African diaspora. The Divan Music Festival is one of the few stages that gives this scene a fixed annual date, beyond major festivals like Pop Kultur or Berliner Jazztage. Anyone wanting to discover Berlin's summer off the beaten track should mark this date.