Rob Berends writes:
Antilopen Gang - finally saw them live!
In 2014 I watched a German TV-culture-show (WestArt), and among other topics, they presented a band I did not know yet: Antilopen Gang, from a part of Germany very close to the Dutch border.
I was immediately enthusiastic: their hiphop / Deutsch-rap sounded great, their attitude was very lame-punky, and their lyrics very intelligent and radical.
Their German agency KKT allowed me to put the band on my presentation-roster for The Netherlands. Both parties knew that market-success was not likely to happen soon, that is, not in The Netherlands. But in Germany the band took off: their debut-album (as Antilopen Gang) 'Aversion' was released in 2014 and produced nation-wide hits, like the anti-fascist song 'Beate Zschäpe Hört U2' (Beate Zschäpe is member of the nazi-terrorist gang NSU that coldbloodedly murdered 9 people with a migrant background and one police officer - and she likes U2).
Antilopen Gang released more albums, obviously, such as 'Anarchie Und Alltag' (anarchy and everyday life), which was accompanied by a punk-rock-style album 'Atombombe auf Deutschland' full of Antilopen Gang hiphop-originals reworked to a punk rock sound, with the cooperation of several legendary German punk rock musicians.
The three members of Antilopen Gang are Danger Dan, Koljah, and Panik Panzer.
I was able to produce an offer for a festival in The Netherlands, in 2017 ('Cultura Nova', in Heerlen). The band was able to confirm. Unfortunately one of them broke his arm and was hospitalized: they had to pull out of the festival.
Gang member Danger Dan, like all of them, has always released his own material too, under his own artist-name or in cooperation with others.
In 2021, he released the track 'Das Ist Alles Von Der Kunstfreiheit Gedeckt' (all of this is protected by artistic freedom - a big thing in Germany after the nazi-era), a cut-throat attack on the far-right (politicians, influencers, etc.) in Germany. The song was a huge hit in Germany.
This year, Antilopen Gang went into hibernation. Their big 'before we go to sleep' show was in Berlin last month, and I had to go there: my only chance to see the band live, for the first time.
It was amazing to witness how varied the audience was, and also to witness how sweet they all were to everyone around them (even to an old punk-rocker-squatter from Nijmegen :-) ).
It was confronting though to see a stand supporting 'Opferperspektive' (the perspective of victims), who focus on antisemitism over racism in general, and to see no stand whatsoever focusing on the terrible faith of Palestinians under the current fascists-dominated Israeli regime. 'German Guilt' is still a big hindrance for justice.
Meanwhile, Danger Dan had released his new song 'Keine Angst' (have no fear), with great lyrics about not to cave in, not to be afraid, and to continue the fight against the far-right. The song received massive additional publicity in Germany when public broadcaster ZDF decided to censor this song because of its perceived hints at violence against the neo-nazi's.
Being in Berlin in general was great again. My first visit to Berlin was in 1973, long before the wall fell. Since then, I need a shot of Berlin at least every other year.
