SPK has new songs about Germany written: Writers Tanja Dückers, Marica Bodrožić and Jan Koneffke congratulate on the 175th anniversary of the "Song of the Germans"
Press release from 07/04/2016
Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the "Song of the Germans" 175 years ago. What is believed to be the first fair copy of the poem is housed in the Berlin State Library. In its current issue (published on 7 July), SPK Magazine asks what we are actually singing about when we think of Germany in 2016. Three renowned authors have reinterpreted the Deutschlandlied exclusively for SPK magazine. The songs by Tanja Dückers, Marica Bodrožić and Jan Koneffke are a wish list, question time, utopia and criticism all in one.
Tanja Dückers, born in 1968, emphasises the idea of European unification in "Deutschland - was bist Du vieles" - she did not want to "write a Germany song that pays homage to the old limiting narcissistic nationalism". She also makes immigration a theme: "Beyond crowns and religions/you can be today/just and tolerant/now home to many [...] And: whoever is everything/no longer needs to be afraid of anything".
Marica Bodrožić, born in 1973 in what is now Croatia and based in Germany for over thirty years, writes about her "mother tongue country": "Since language is a place of synthesis, a mirror and archive at the same time, I have tried to make this inner reality visible and to show that today's Germany is perhaps also a country in which every citizen can and may have their own song."
Jan Koneffke, born in 1960, has called his survey against national enthusiasm "Neues Lied auf alte Weise" (New song in the old way) and has given a clear answer to von Fallersleben: "German hubris, German remorse/efficiency and hysteria/between Loire and Danube new/power: Made in Germany".
The three newly written songs were added to the Staatsbibliothek's manuscript collection. To mark the 175th anniversary of the writing of the Deutschlandlied, they will be shown alongside it in a special presentation (26/27 August 2016, 10am-7pm, free admission, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Potsdamer Straße 33, 10785 Berlin).
Further links
- Article in SPK magazine "Des Glückes Unterpfand?" (PDF document, 875 KB, not barrier-free)
- News "Des Glückes Unterpfand? Three new songs about Germany" (19.07.2016)
- Press release "The new SPK magazine will be published on 7 July and asks about home: a magazine about everything that belongs to it" (01.07.2016)
- SPK magazine, issue 1/2016: "Home?"
- Press images