How “Rhubarb Barbara” helps our country

Opinion

Social media hit
A touch of summer fairy tales: Why we urgently needed “Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar”.

Aberacadabera! Millions dance to German puns on Tiktok. An internet hit brings back forgotten German talents: humor, cheerfulness, lightness.

When I was a child, it was a certainty, especially abroad, that Germans had no sense of humor. Even back then, this claim seemed implausible to me; after all, my favorite humorists came from exactly there: the old Federal Republic. I loved everything from Loriot, adored the anarchist sketches of Hape Kerkelingfound the puns Heinz Erhardts brilliant. One of the greatest sentences comes from the Hamburg cabaret artist who was already dead when I started watching his films, which, even without the fun factor, is a piece of wisdom: “You mustn’t believe everything you think!”

The German language seems to have been created to make fun of, many poets and… Humorists have risen to this challenge brilliantly. So as a child I developed the abnormal behavior of happily memorizing poems. Preferably those by Christian Morgenstern (“A weasel, sitting on a pebble, in the middle of a stream”), Joachim Ringelnatz (“Two ants lived in Hamburg who wanted to travel to Australia”), Robert Gernhardt (“I want to praise you, ugly thing, You have something so reliable”) or the Austrian Ernst Jandl (“Some people think it’s good and bad, you can’t change it”).

Worthy heirs to the German humor classics

This genre has found a worthy heir in the cabaret artist Bodo Wartke, who has succeeded in transferring the principle of the tongue twister from speech therapy guides into a digital entertainment format. Be beautiful “Big roofer” collected hundreds of thousands of clicks. Now the cheerful rap “Barbara’s Rhubarbbar”, which he wrote with the great musician and parodist Martin Fischer played, sparked a worldwide trend. All sorts of “dance influencers” are hopping to the German rhymes on TikTok and Instagram. Quite certainly, without even remotely knowing the many reminiscences that the song contains.

interview

“Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar”
Why do US stars dance to a German tongue twister, Mr. Wartke?

May 2, 2024

And there are many of them: the original text from “Rhubarb-Barbara” is a classic of speech training, with Wartke and Fischer joined by the French cartoon characters Barbapapas from the seventies, the magical “Aberakdadabera” of the First General Uncertainty, as well as the nonsensical children’s song by the “Three Chinese with the Double Bass”. Max Goldt may even greet you from the background, who once demanded: “Barbara, make your husband banana-rhubarb jam salad”.

Millions dance the rhubarb bar dance

It’s amazing who swings their hips to this little playful prank and a choreography that two dancers from Sydney came up with: This morning alone I was shown the clips from Top Model Rebecca Recorded to me with their All Stars as a reel, Sally” Özcan with the home-baked rhubarb cake in hand, a troupe of Munich basketball players, the Canadian dance star Alex Wong, and a fairground artist named “Jack the Wipper” from Boston, Massachusetts, who is famous for belting out hits with a circus whip.

Fischer and Wartke obviously can’t really explain why their song has become a viral megahit. “Because he spreads a good mood,” Wartke speculates star interview. “You can hear and see our joy in the language and the dance. This is transmitted across national borders.”

What this trend is currently bringing to the world should not be underestimated. Germany is not exactly known for its good mood at the moment. International media primarily report on the country’s economic crisis and the advance of right-wing extremists. The New York Times recently published a harsh article entitled “How Germany became evil“, which denounces the country’s solidarity towards Israel.

Happy, despite the severity of our times

Now “Barbaras Rhubarbbar” is anything but a political song, and that is exactly its strength. “The song helps to break down prejudices because people realize that we Germans can have a sense of humor and that our language doesn’t have to sound aggressive,” says Wartke. “In this sense, we also contribute to international understanding.” You shouldn’t make too much of the Internet hit, but this one pious wish may be allowed. We can be a little grateful to the two fun artists Wartke and Fischer, because their work represents something that the Germans have always been able to do: to be happy despite everything, to face the gravity of our times with humor. Even though it’s only May, a little touch of a summer fairy tale wafts through these clips. That bit of lightness that we all need.