Astan Meyer

Born in France and travelling regularly to Mali since the age of 3, Astan grew up surrounded
by black and white, which allowed her to never encounter identity problems and leads her
to consider herself today as a "child of reconciliation". She combines different musical
genres, from jazz to rock to afro-techno to hip-hop, to illustrate her mostly experimental
universe.
She is also the lead singer of the band Asphalt Djelis, which mixes ancient and futuristic
sounds. Her songs are about life, love, friendship, protest and intellectual rebellion, but
also about growing up as a mixed-race woman and the importance of acquiring the right
knowledge, as there is a lot that school doesn't teach us. Although much of her work is
about glorifying the black woman, she still preaches a great message of universality. She
started dancing at the age of 6 with ballet and then started modern jazz at the age of 11.
Today, she expresses herself through all the dance influences she has encountered and
tries to dance more "from the inside than the outside". She has appeared as an actress in
music videos and commercials, mainly in Germany and France, and got a role in a musical
in Berlin in 2019. In February 2021 she played a role on a new Amazon TV-show produced by Warner Bros Germany.
She has been involved in many creative collaborations such as with Puma, Sevdaliza, the
Hoodoo Musical in Berlin.
Astan also curates events at the cultural centre Oyoun-Neu Denken in Berlin-Neukölln,
which promotes migrant, queer, feministic and decolonising ideas. She is also a co-founder of
Culture Supply and a member of Out Out Time Embassy, a multicultural group of curators
who generate conversation and curiosity about art and culture in Berlin.