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All this week, Soundcheck presents a series of shows from Berlin, a city Billboard magazine called one of the world's hot spots for music in 2007. Our series continues with a look at the city's rich musical past. The sardonic and stylish cabaret singer Max Raabe explains why cabaret and theater songs from the Weimar era are popular once again. And journalist Kay Meseberg tell us why some Berliners are nostalgic for artifacts (musical and otherwise) of the Communist era. Finally, singer Klaus Hoffmann shares his life stories and songs which span Jacques Brel to his own cabaret-tinged chansons.

Soundcheck in Berlin is supported in part by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.