Nowhere – Nessun luogo

Wherever I travel, / I go to nowhere. / My suitcases full of longing, / My hands full of trinkets.
 

These are the opening lines of Mascha Kaléko's poem „Kein Kinderlied“ (No Children's Song). The famous Italian-German singer Etta Scollo has set numerous poems by Kaléko to music for her project Nirgendland – Nessun luogo (Nowhere Land), creating a tender, melodious memorial to the poet, whose life was marked by loss and exile. What utopia is being sung about here? Is it the abandoned homeland, the lost childhood, or the unknown land to which one longs to go—and may never reach? Kaléko's life story is exemplary of many voices that were silenced by expulsion and loss of homeland—and yet continue to have an impact.

Together with her trio – Susanne Paul (cello) and Tara Bouman (clarinet) – Etta Scollo returns to the Theater an der Ruhr to give us an insight into this special concert project, with which she is currently on tour and which was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the poet's death. She is accompanied once again by the great actress Eva Mattes, who lends depth, warmth, and irony to Kaléko's poems with her unmistakable voice. The result is a haunting, multi-layered evening about language, memory, and identity – poetic, political, and moving.

If you would like to hear Etta Scollo and Eva Mattes perform the complete Nirgendland program, you can also do so here.