A German choir whose protest song was used to drown out an interview with far-right AfD leader Alice Weidel has expressed surprise at the publicity but now faces a backlash. The Corner Chor, from Augsburg, had rewritten a 19th-century Styrian Christmas yodel as a three-voice protest song against the AfD, titled 'Scheiß AfD Jodler' (Shit AfD Yodellers).
The song was blasted from a 100,000-watt sound system across the River Spree in Berlin during Weidel's annual summer interview with public broadcaster ARD. The disruption was orchestrated by the Centre for Political Beauty (ZPS), an association of action artists, without the choir's prior knowledge. The yodel drowned out much of the hour-long exchange, prompting Weidel to complain she could not understand the interviewer.
Weidel accused the choir of being state-funded, a slur increasingly used by the AfD against opponents. The party later demanded a rerun, which ARD has refused. ZPS leader Philipp Ruch called the action 'more of an embellishment' than a disruption, noting the state had classified the AfD as rightwing extremists earlier this year.
Corner Chor, a 15-strong collective of feminist and LGBTQ+ singers, has been active for six years, performing at street corners, festivals, and other venues. Their repertoire ranges from sea shanties to Mozart, but they focus on political protest, including campaigns for free sanitary products and against high rents and the gender pay gap.
The song went viral after the broadcast, reaching No. 6 on the iTunes Germany charts and receiving 60,000 plays on Spotify. The choir has attracted donations for future projects but members, who declined to be individually identified for safety reasons, admitted to being shocked by the resonance. The song has been widely remixed and adopted by other choirs and at demonstrations, including Pride marches.
