A sunny Sunday at Berlin’s Bearpit

Several residents of Berlin and its environs every Sunday, flock to Mauerpark the part of the German capital where the Bearpit is located. The crowd which is mostly made up of visiting youngsters of different nationalities, students or permanent residents create memorable fun activities which first-timers relish. It was a great ushering into Berlin’s contemporary […]

Several residents of Berlin and its environs every Sunday, flock to Mauerpark the part of the German capital where the Bearpit is located. The crowd which is mostly made up of visiting youngsters of different nationalities, students or permanent residents create memorable fun activities which first-timers relish. It was a great ushering into Berlin’s contemporary culture.
Karaoke is something many people enjoy to indulge in, especially with friends and loved ones. The most common venues to relate such activities with are usually clubs and relaxation spots. A ‘bearpit’ would not readily be associated with that. But for Berliners, this is where it happens every Sunday.
What the word ‘bearpit’ resonates in the mind of many who were unfamiliar with it is that, it most likely used to be an ancient arena where gladiators fought against one another or with animals to entertain royalty and their kinsmen. Pictures of armoured vestments and other such protective gears, mostly in brown or black, are visualised amidst echoes of cheers and applause from the excited crowds as seen in movies.
But this picture is far from the reality. The crowd gathered at the Bearpit is in multi-coloured layers forming semi-circles even on the interlocked concrete ground. They are all ready and eager to be a part of the karaoke as they strategically set themselves at angles where they can be called upon to pick a song that will be chorused by the crowd.  
The Bearpit is actually an amphitheatre built with bits of concretes and rocks rising at least 30 sitting levels. The gathering here started in early 2009 with Joe Hatchiban who uses portable, battery-powered boxes to power the musical set and microphones. According to a post on bearpit.com the idea behind it is “to help people unleash their inner Rampensau, and barking good natured criticism in the break between the last singer and the next.”
The post adds that: “These singers have been tracked down on his travels by bike all over the great city of Berlin. Either spontaneously in the street, or at Bar 25 (R.I.P.), or at the Berlin International Bierfest, or at the Long Night of the Museums, or at the occasional demonstration for a reasonably good cause, or even at the Christmas parties of one or two companies renowned for their very good taste.”
Hatchiban, however, mostly finds them at the stone amphitheatre in Mauerpark on Sunday afternoons.
“Weather permitting, Joe fetches up around 3 p.m. and invites anybody who so wishes to take the stage for a few minutes, and show those gathered there what they can do with a backing track and a microphone,” the post informs.
Singers were rewarded by the enthusiastic crowd with applauses for their performances. To add tonic to the performances, especially when things don’t pan out as planned, Hatchiban offers advice to performers.
The post informs that the custom made box that we used at the show is known as the Transformer. It is so named because it looks like a transformer and was especially designed with the acoustics of the amphitheatre at Mauerpark in mind.
It is not all play at the Bearpit. A lot of serious work and memorabilia are created from these Sunday outings.
The site says: “Demon Music is an independent music label. As well as original albums, they have also put out some karaoke compilations under the name ‘100 Hits.’ One of the people who works for Demon, Andrew, was at Bearpit over the summer and thought what we were doing was pretty good. He offered us all the karaoke that ‘100 Hits’ had to give, and we said ‘Jabitte!’
“Not because we’re mad greedy, but because he had written to us just a couple of days after the Bearpit laptop finished one rainy Sunday session sitting under water, with no tracks playing anymore. And by the way, he made us this offer just days after the Demon warehouse had been burned down with all stock destroyed during the recent London riots.”
Away from the Bearpit, people naturally gravitate next door to the Mauerpark flea market to buy from the extensive variety of items on display. Some go to have open air lunch breaks and others simply to window shop.
The market is open every Sunday and began operations in 2004. It has grown to become a favourite spot of Berliners and tourists alike. For our reporter it was a destination full of history. There were cameras, LP gadgets, vintage fashion pieces, crockery, vinyl records, antiques and other knickknacks.
Side attractions included artists sprawled on the grass or at other cool spots replicating what they saw in the arena. Every now and again, they stopped work to speak to passersby who were keen on what they were doing as they made efforts to explain the pictures.
More hilarious attractions were of amateur musicians playing different instruments costumed in the most bizarre attires. So much so there were more efforts on taking their photos than on listening to their music.
Visiting the 30 metre strip of the Berlin Wall still standing in the park, which has been reserved as a monument, was our reporter’s first contact with the famous piece. Many went up and down its length and breadth admiring and trying to interpret the several graffiti on the wall.
The Mauerpark holds a significant part of Germany’s history before the fall of the Wall. What is now Mauerpark, was once a death strip. The Berlin Wall ran through it and this is the origin of its name which means ‘Wall Park.’