As we were packing the final bits of our equipment, I got a message from Cerys saying she had taken a precautionary lateral flow test and it had come up positive! I had been expecting that covid would mess up our trip somehow but as Cerys had already had covid a few weeks ago she was the one I least expected to catch it! Nonetheless we knew we had to carry on with the trip and consider alternative ways of working with Cerys if she was unable to fly out later in the week. We tried to go and pick her harp up from her university campus but ended up going ‘round in circles with their security with the music tech office closed!! Ahhh, anyway we took a deep breath and headed towards the Chunnel.

Nick and I drove to Berlin with a van full of recording and music equipment, we arrived to where Paul Geigerzähler lives in a big housing collective. We were going to warm-up to our week of music making in the Sorbian region, by playing a small gig in an underground bar in one of Berlin’s old squats. There Paul and I performed our solo music, and we also did Chwalaw’s second ever live performance which went down really well. Through the gig we fundraised 350 euros for Belarus ABC, a group that support Belarussian political prisoners. Some members of Kollective Wakum who are supporting and helping to facilitate our Sorbian/Welsh came to the gig (and also designed the poster!).