Congratulations to the Kültürklüngel Orkestar for being one of three local organizations awarded the Bonner Heimat-Prize for 2021.
The ‘Kültürklüngel Orkestar’ is an open and diverse music project that has origins in the grand Bonn Carnival tradition. The concerts of its free-flowing network of local musicians are very often spontaneous affairs with any number of contributors from any number of cultural backgrounds. This is very much reflected in their music, which the orchestra describes as “coming from Orient and Occident, North and South, from the Balkan region to Swabia”. It may at times seem chaotic when you see them marching through the City Centre streets playing. but there is method behind the ‘madness’ whith the aim, by concerts end, to have broken down all cultural barriers with the passers-by through the sheer joy and force of music.
Particular congratulations to Saman Haddad who first arrived in the Rheinland area at the age of 13 when his family fled from Iraq. Saman is the singer and familiar face of the Orkestar. One might say its heart even. You have very likely heard him and his talented band, walking through Bonn City Centre to stop at various locations, Saman with his familiar megaphone at hand. Even the Corona Crisis failed to stop the band – who travelled around playing music from an open-topped bus.
The Bonner-Heimat Preis (Bonn Homeland Prize) is one of a total of five components of the funding program “Homeland. Future. North Rhine-Westphalia. We promote what connects people.” The Heimat-Preis motto is “Making voluntary commitment visible” and subject to a provision of funds by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Federal City of Bonn has, since 2019, annually received 15,000 euros to pay special tribute to local civic engagement. The prize money can be divided among up to three award winners. Other prize-winners this year are MediNetzBonn and die Flüchtlingshilfe Bonn. It is planned that the Awards will be presented by Mayor Katja Dörner on September 15, 2021, as part of the Week of Civic Involvement (September 10-19, 2021) in the City Hall.