Briefly the background: At the end of July, the Merano singer/songwriter Alex Favalli in the new Ost West Club in Merano, for which he had travelled from Berlin. The municipality of Merano had cancelled the concert at short notice due to an overdue document for a newly installed safety lamp. Favalli reacted with a “Open letter to the municipality of Merano”which had led to a broad discussion, which, among other things, concerned the relationship between the municipality of Merano and culture and the cultural workers in the city on the Passer.
Katharina ZellerVice Mayor of Merano and responsible for culture in the Passer city, has now taken up the ball and the day before yesterday had a detailed conversation with Favalli on her new YouTube-Kanal published.
For Katharina Zeller, the election campaign for the upcoming municipal elections in Merano begins. The format „Katha & …“ on her YouTube channel, is a contemporary tool for this. In the course of the almost hour-long conversation between the politician and the musician, this also flashes up now and again, but it is not really disturbing; in fact, it would be logical to do without it altogether, because her eloquence, her knowledge of the subject and her naturalness are convincing. And the ice is actually broken right at the beginning.
Alex Favalli is also eloquent, telling stories about life as a musician in Berlin and San Francisco and clearly defending the relevance of culture for society.
It is an insightful conversation, because it repeatedly brings the incident in the East West Club Merano to a higher, more general level, and stimulates ideas that could also be of importance to the other communities in South Tyrol, provided they are taken up. Even tourism comes into play – towards the end. But there is no bashing, just ideas, examples and suggestions on how to improve the conflict in this area.
It is a profitable discussion for all those who are not entirely satisfied with the state of culture in South Tyrol and who would like to see a little more flexibility, feasibility and openness on the part of the local authorities.
Alex Favalli himself on how the video came about: “Katharina called me a few days after the letter was published and the first thing she did was apologize for the canceled concert. I appreciated that and I give her a lot of credit for it. And then she invited me to a ‘chat’ – as she called it. I was briefly worried that I would slip into a local political discussion, which I was and am absolutely not interested in. But Katharina Zeller has supported the letter from the very beginning and has always represented the club’s interests long before that. That’s why I thought it was right and important to talk to her. I think the conversation was constructive and productive and I hope that the city can now continue to work in this direction.”
And two more pieces of good news at the end: The East West Club is – after a short break – open again as normal and a first concert has already taken place. Alex Favalli will make up for his concert on December 27, 2024: “In the club’s new concert hall”, as he adds. “I’m even happier!”
