Where Sounds Collide: XJAZZ! 2025 and the Rise of D.$AHIN
In a city known for its relentless creativity and uncompromising soundscape, XJAZZ! has carved out a space that refuses to be boxed in. Since its inception, the Berlin-based festival has thrived on disruption, rejecting jazz orthodoxy in favor of experimentation, cultural exchange, and bold sonic fusion.
The 2025 edition is no exception. With an eclectic lineup that stretches from smoky underground clubs to grand orchestral stages, XJAZZ! continues its mission: to celebrate the ever-evolving soul of jazz This year’s programming is curated around themes like Berlin Focus, The Quiet Revolution, and The Future, shaping each day into an immersive exploration of sound and identity. As always, the festival isn’t just about music — it’s about movement. About crossing borders, blending traditions, and creating something new in the process.
A perfect embodiment of that ethos? D.$AHIN, the Berlin-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose journey is as layered as her voice.
Born in Istanbul and raised in Germany after arriving as a refugee in the early 1990s, D.$AHIN (pronounced “Sha-heen”) grew up suspended between cultures. She studied Saz, the long-necked Turkish string instrument, while absorbing the R&B and indie-pop melodies of her Western surroundings. That cultural duality has become the beating heart of her music — an earthy, emotionally resonant sound that feels both familiar and entirely her own.
With a voice that soothes as much as it stirs, D.$AHIN moves between genres effortlessly, crafting songs that explore identity, longing, and liberation. Her performances are intimate yet expansive, rooted in lived experience but elevated by her technical mastery and musical openness.
D.$AHIN’s trajectory is anything but static. From winning first place at the Boogie Down Berlin Showcase hosted by DJ Tomekk and Kurtis Blow, to opening for Hiatus Kaiyote under her earlier monikers “Chili Hendrix” and “Room 816,” she has consistently stood out as a unique voice in Germany’s music scene.
In 2015, she relocated to Valencia, Spain, where she quickly became one of the city’s most talked-about performers. Within months, she sold out a showcase at the M.U.V. Festival and collaborated with faculty from Berklee College of Music’s Valencia campus, as well as six-time Latin Grammy-nominated DJ and producer Carlos Jean. Returning to Berlin in 2018, D.$AHIN turned inward, focusing on songwriting and self-production. Her recent work includes contributions to A Song For You, a collaboration with acclaimed jazz trumpeter Theo Croker, and high-profile performances with artists like Noah Slee, LARY, and Aka Kelzz.
At XJAZZ! 2025, with a self-produced project currently in the works, this appearance marks a pivotal moment — not just in her career, but in the ongoing evolution of jazz as a genre without borders.
Q: As someone who has experienced displacement, how has your personal journey
influenced the music you create?
There are a few things that pop into my mind. One of the things that made me operate on an artistic level to begin with is that I never really experienced a sense of belonging to one specific group of people. That means I learned very early on to operate in liminal spaces, in a world of in-between. So, I got to observe things that others might not have clocked, or ask the question “why” to achieve a certain feeling of inner safety or make sense of my environment. Moving between worlds inspires me to connect, build bridges, and have an eye for details.
Another one is the isolation I experienced. At one point, we (as a family) were put into a flat with other asylum seekers. When my mom found a job, she literally had to lock me in one of the rooms for up to 8 hours a day – with a bucket as a toilet, food, hundreds of papers and pens, plus a TV. She had experienced violence and crazy, scary occurrences in this flat and was too scared to leave the door open and for other people to have access to my space. All I could do in this time was watch cartoon shows and draw hundreds of pictures a day. This is the very reason I get obsessed with creating on the regular now; I can spend weeks with myself without feeling the urge to seek out external impulses. This is why I became good at anything – because I lose myself in creating, learning, playing, singing.
The third thing is a result of the second: hyper-independence. It's a trauma response, of course. Additionally, though, I feel very strongly that I always had some internal compass that is hard to shake by other people's notions of me. A fearlessness in confronting myself with myself. All of these things can be heard in my music, my lyrics, my approach to basically everything. And creating music does not happen for me because I want it so badly. My survival depends on me having space to create. It's a necessity.
Q: XJAZZ! is known for celebrating the boundary-pushing spirit of jazz. How does this festival’s experimental nature align with your own approach to music?
If anyone asks me, I tell them that XJAZZ! is my favorite festival. The curation is excellent, and year after year, I experience the festival like Alice in Wonderland, exploring all these different worlds. I am always fired up for boldness, artistic excellence, and the unexpected. All of this I have personally experienced as an audience member – the enchantment that comes with witnessing music that I didn’t know I needed. I think XJAZZ! festival has a subtle “punk” attitude woven into its appearance. I really can relate to this.
Q: Your performance is part of the XJAZZ! Berlin Focus event on May 16th. What do you think makes Berlin’s music scene so special?
The landscape has changed very strongly in the last ten years in Berlin. I got to watch in real-time how increasingly international Berlin's music scene has become. What I find very special here is the amount of experimental events you can see, as there is access, and that leads to spontaneous occurrences. I think of the “cassette heads sessions” that built a wonderful community over the years. I have yet to see a session that wasn’t fire. Or random stuff like seeing Erykah Badu performing a spontaneous concert with “The Swag” in front of 50 people at a venue called Badehaus. I remember a sold-out Àbáse concert at the same venue where I was feeling so deeply, and the groove was driving me insane in a good way! Eclectic, spontaneous, bold. This is how I would describe the Berlin music scene.
Photo: Thomas Ram
Photos of the festival below Eike Walkenhorst
