Florian Silbereisen is threatened with consequences: When Jürgen Drews said “hit farewell” he deleted the word “Indians” from the cult hit “1000 and 1 Night (Zoom!)”. Its copywriter Diether Dehm is now filing a criminal complaint.
Frankfurt am Main – The Winnetou debate and the closely intertwined question of whether and to what extent the word “Indian” should still be used continues to heat up tempers: some consider the rather unclean foreign attribution to be racist, while others fear a language ban. The topic has now also reached German hits – and could cause Florian Silbereisen (41) some trouble …
“Indians” removed from cult hit – Diether Dehm rages against hit star Florian Silbereisen
Spectators who are familiar with the text of the “Schlagerabschieds” (January 14) held (77) on the occasion of Jürgen Drews’ career end should have been suspicious of a scene from the evening: The Klaus-Lage cult hit “1000 and 1 night (zoom!)” was given by Florian Silbereisen and Beatrice Egli (34) as a duet was close to the original again, but one word had been exchanged: In the line “Do you remember, we played Indians”, the much-discussed word “Indians” had to give way to the harmless term “together”.
For Diether Dehm (72), who wrote the text of the 1984 German rock classic together with Klaus Lage (72), this change is unacceptable. On Facebook, the former left-wing member of the Bundestag and singer-songwriter is critical, speaking of the “scrambling of a protected artistic work” and “copyright infringement”. The two hit greats Florian Silbereisen and Beatrice Egli would have to “just go to a closed facility because of gross nonsense,” the former SPD politician continued to rant.
“1000 and 1 Nights (Zoom!)” – a piece of German music history:
Since 1984, “1000 and 1 Nights (Zoom!)” has reliably provided a catchy tune. The music of the rock song was penned by Klaus Lage keyboardist Göran Walger, the lyrics were written by Diether Dehm (as N. Heirell) and Klaus Lage himself. The song is about two people who have known each other since childhood and who grow up together. Their friendship suddenly turns into love after an evening together. After its release, the song reached number five in the German charts and stayed there for a total of 22 weeks. There are now a wide variety of cover versions, for example by pop legend Wolfgang Petry, jazz musician Roger Cicero, the singer-songwriter Drangsal or the a cappella group Maybebop.
Criminal complaint against Florian Silbereisen – “1000 and 1 night” author scolds the pop singer
Florian Silbereisen is threatened with trouble, because Diether Dehm “as the author and publisher of ‘1000 and 1 night (Zoom!)’ (…) filed a criminal complaint,” as the 72-year-old announced on the social network. He would “also take private legal action against all so-called Heimat singers” who “arbitrarily” change the text. With the 41-year-old pop star, however, he is harsh in the court: “Silbereisen had neither my approval nor the slightest taste competence,” said the former manager of GDR songwriter and critic Wolf Biermann (86).
He also insists that future generations continue to be “allowed to ‘play Indians’ wherever and whenever they want; just as hopefully young indigenous people should be allowed to play ‘old white men’ forever and everywhere in the world”. The 72-year-old should have made it clear where Diether Dehm stands within this socio-political debate with his clear words and the criminal complaint against Florian Silbereisen. His Saturday evening show also caused trouble elsewhere: Jürgen Drews’ “Schlagerabschied” was insulted by the viewers as a “sinking ship”. Sources used: facebook.com/DietherDehm, “The Big Hit Farewell” (The First)
