Christoph Borkowsky

• function: President
• company: piranha womex AG

a.k.a. "Akbar", action anthropologist (M.A.) and AS Roma fan, lives with his family in Berlin and Rome. He is the president of the Piranha group of companies (Piranha Kultur, Piranha Musik & IT and Piranha WOMEX) based in Berlin-Kreuzberg, one of the leading independant producers for international musical exchange. From 1988 - 2001 he directed one of Berlin's major annual summer festivals, the 'HeimatKlänge' ("Home sounds from home planet earth"), from 1999 - 2006 'WOMEX - the world music expo', and since 2000 'Piranha Musik & IT', with more than 140 album releases to date. In the 90ies he initiated 'Bands United', 'Clubs United' and 'Fete de la Musique' in Berlin. From 2004 - 2007 he headed the jury of the local 'Karneval der Kulturen' and in 2006 he co-chaired 'Libero', a cultural network for the football world championship in the German capital. In 2008 he received the "German world music oscar", the Ehren-RUTH. In 2009 he joined the jury of the "11mm" football film festival and was jury-president for the national "Creole" music competition. He also serves as a board member of the 'Berlin Music Commission' - a local music industry cluster of labels, clubs, music publishers and event producers, the 'Gesellschaft für Traditionelle Musik Berlin' and the 'Musikwissenschaftliche Seminar' at Berlin's Humboldt-University.