It wasn’t just another music festival. XJAZZ! Berlin 2025 was a five-day invocation of rhythm, resistance, and radical joy—a testament to jazz not as genre, but as language. Across Kreuzberg’s sanctuaries of sound, from intimate basement bars to the hallowed arches of Emmauskirche, this year’s edition pulsed with the kind of energy you don’t just hear—you feel in your skin, your bones, your breath.
Photo by Eike Walkenhorst
From the outset, the festival’s energy was palpable. Attendees and artists alike were immersed in a shared passion for music, creating connections that transcended age, background, and genre.
Of course, we were especially delighted to meet and see those artists in action we interviewed ahead of the festival.
Stages That Shook, Souls That Soared
From the moment corto.alto launched into their genre-hopping brass odyssey, you could tell: this was going to be one for the books. Their set was brimming with dirty funk, soulful swells, and Glaswegian swagger, blowing the doors off expectations. Likewise, Jembaa Groove turned their stage into a joyous kinetic swirl, fusing West African Highlife with contemporary Berlin grit. It wasn’t a performance; it was a homecoming.
Àbáse’s cosmopolitan palette spun through Budapest, Bahia, and Brooklyn, delivering a hypnotic, groove-drenched communion. Alabaster DePlume—ever the sage-poet—held court with a performance equal parts sermon and séance, turning silence into music, laughter into liberation. D.$AHIN’s electroacoustic set was a cinematic fever dream—saxophone phrases glitched into dancefloor hypnosis. And let’s not forget Aron & the Jeri Jeri Band: they brought the house down with a Mbalax-rooted explosion of Senegalese rhythm that felt more like ceremony than show.
Photo
by Konstiantyn Borovskyi
But of course everyone on the line-up brought their best to the stage. Lucy Liebe, for example, had her debut performance with her band on Friday, bringing the entire Festsaal to rock and sway in unison with them. Known for her work in jazz and beat music, Lucy brings a unique perspective to her compositions, reinterpreting these influences through a queer lens to create a distinctive inner tension in her music. Her set was a compelling blend of alternative R&B, jazz, and electronic elements, reflecting her multifaceted artistry. The band’s synergy was palpable, delivering a performance that was both intimate and expansive.
Other highlights include the energetic set of NYC based drummer and multi-instrumentalist Ignabu, Brown Penny, a contemporary indie jazz band from London and Berlin, Sorvina, a member of Berlin’s A Song For You who blends R&B, hip hop and soul into her infectious solo-music, and, of course, headliner Yukimi. A personal highlight, however, were the teachings of Moor Mother + Lonnie Holley, who like elders shared their wisdom and told us all to come together in community and solidarity.
The Final Jam
This communal spirit was epitomized in XJAZZ!’s closing jam session—a spontaneous convergence of talent that was as beautiful as it was unifying. Because the real climax wasn’t a headliner or one single set. It came in the form of this closing jam session—a loose, joyful, outrageous eruption of collaboration that embodied everything jazz can be: beautiful, funny, surprising, connective. It was a roomful of strangers remembering they already knew each other through the shared pulse of improvisation. Bass lines morphed into laughter. Horns became love notes. Time signatures crumbled into hugs.
At the Heart of It All
Now to the unsung heroes. The ones you don’t directly think of when it comes to the upholding of a music festival. Yet, they are the ones who bring everything together. Because all of this isn’t possible without the invisible orchestra behind the scenes. To the organisers who curated such intentional chaos; to the bar staff and volunteers who moved with love and grit; to the tech crews who made every sonic detail sing—thank you. You are the heartbeat behind the music’s magic.
XJAZZ! reminded us that music is not a product; it’s a process of becoming. It’s what happens when we listen, not just with ears, but with everything. In a world fraying at the seams, music connects. And when we connect, we heal.
See you in 2026, family.
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