Insight Germany: Talk Show

Our guest today is a musician originally from Washington State. Ian Hooper is a member of The Mighty Oaks whose first album Howl went straight into the German top ten. Ian dropped by the studio to talk about the hard work that goes into an "overnight success", to explain how he became an intern in the office of a German member of parliament and to sing a solo version of the band's new single.

Musician and record producer Mark Reeder, who moved to Berlin in 1978, reflects on a career in the city's underground music scene. He pioneered electronic music and guided the early career of DJ Paul Van Dyke. He's just released his third studio album Collaborator.

Hristo Kyuchukov is a Bulgarian of Romani descent, a specialist in Romani psycholinguistics and education of Roma children in Europe, and author of a number of books. He is currently a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.

Our flamboyant guest in this edition is the first organist ever to be nominated for a Grammy and famous for taking the organ out of the church and into the concert hall.

Mitslal Kifleyesus Matschie helped set up the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the OPCW, back in the 1990s. This organisation recently received the Nobel Peace Prize. She is originally from Ethiopia and now lives in Jena in the German state of Thüringen. She’s a political scientist, and a social entrepreneur running a business helping 11 thousand farmers in Ethiopia.

Giovanni Frazzetto from the Italian island of Sicily first came to Germany to study for a PhD in Heidelberg. He has done extensive work on the relationship between science, society and culture and is author of the popular science book "How We Feel?". He now lives in Berlin where he works at the Institute for Advanced Study. We find out "How He Feels" about German, Germany and much more.

Our guest in this edition is India-born, US-educated startup entrepreneur Naren Shaam. After working in the auto industry and in financial services in the US, the Harvard MBA moved to Berlin to set up a brand new business. Guest: Startup Entrepreneur Naren Shaam He's now CEO of innovative travel company GoEuro. We talk to him about the startup scene in Berlin, about what motivates him and about how and why he located in Germany despite speaking barely a word of German.

Algerian-French choreographer Samir Akika grew up in Paris and almost became a professional basketball player, then studied physics and maths. But at the age of 25 he completely changed direction after discovering modern dance. Now he is the artistic director of the dance theatre in Bremen and travels the world creating dance shows sponsored by Germany's international cultural agency the Goethe Institute.

This week’s guest is the philosopher and writer Stephen Cave. His first book is called "Immortality : the quest to live forever and how it drives civilisation.” Before he took up writing full time he worked as a diplomat for the British foreign Office and then for the German Foreign office! So lots to discuss on Insight Germany this week!

This week’s guest is considered to be one of the most important fashion journalists here in Germany. Originally from New York Melissa Drier arrived in Berlin in 1985 and has been writing about fashion and lots more for over 25 years for Women’s Wear Daily. This is the most influential daily newspaper of the textile industry worldwide.

Our guest in this edition is one of the research group leaders of experimental neurosurgery at the world famous Charité University hospital in Berlin. Ana Luisa Pina is from Mexico and originally came to Germany to study at the turn of the millenium. She is passionate about science, yoga, dance and much more.

Born in New York and brought up in London Michal Friedlander came to Germany in 2001 to take up the post of curator of Judaica and the Applied Arts at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. She comes from a family of German Jews who fled the country in the late 1930s. She is the first of her family to re-locate back to Germany.

Our guest in this edition was born and brought up in the great American West but has a fascination for the great European East. Independent filmmaker Rick Minnich has made documentaries about changes in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall and about the idiosyncrasies of his homeland. Forgetting Dad, dealing with his father's amnesia, has garnered numerous awards.