Mike Litt in conversation with concert & event promoter Hamed Shahi

How are you, Düsseldorf?

Our new podcast "Alle Rhein" for culture in times of Corona - now every week on Friday until further notice: Our host Mike Litt talks to Düsseldorfers from the art and culture scene. He has set up a home studio especially for this purpose.
What Mike Litt wants to know: How do the talk guests experience the surreal time of isolation? What projects are they working on anyway? And what do they miss most about Düsseldorf?
In Episode 6, Mike talks to Hamed Shahi.

Hamed Shahi, concert and event organizer, has established two events in Düsseldorf in the last decade that have developed a radiance and luminosity far beyond the city limits: The New Fall Festival and Parklife.

The New Fall Festival with an exquisite selection of international artists performing in the most beautiful locations of Düsseldorf is unique in Germany. But hardly any other metropolis could impress with such a program, as Hamed Shahi and his team have repeatedly and successfully launched.

In Corona times, the ambitious work that focused on the love of art is threatened. Shahi hopes that the 10th New Fall can take place again in the fall in the Ehrenhof and the Rheinterrasse. Likewise the happening "Parklife" with life, encounters, family feeling and music in changing Düsseldorf parks. Without question a real project of the heart, because it has always been quite simply an invitation to all Düsseldorfers (young and old) to meet "free & outside" in the parks.

In this episode of "Alle Rhein!", the "Persian Rhinelander", who also runs the museum gastro PONG in the NRW Forum, tells us why he continues to believe in the power of culture and wants to help shape cultural life in Düsseldorf, how he motivates himself during the most difficult time of his professional life and how he looks for new paths. He says, "Culture needs society. Society needs culture!" Shahi says he can only realize his visions and dreams in Düsseldorf, where proximity and urbanity meet in a unique way.

Our host

Mike Litt was born in the US state of Virginia and lived in Bochum for many years. The globetrotter usually works in Cologne but lives with his family in the beautiful Düsseltal district of Düsseldorf. He is a radio presenter (1Live, WDR 2, DLF Nova), a DJ with Mayday festival experience and an author (‘The loneliest DJ in the world’). For our podcast, he holds fascinating conversations with other people from Düsseldorf’s cultural scene.