Since the city of Würzburg banned the Ballermann hit at the Kiliani folk festival, there has been a lot of excitement on the Internet. Now it turned out that Mayor Christian Schuchardt also celebrated “Layla” in the beer tent.
On Monday, the city of Würzburg announced that the Malle song “Layla” could no longer be played at the Würzburg Kiliani folk festival. The text is sexist and therefore has no place in the beer tent, according to the criticism. Since then, the Ballermann hit has been discussed at length on social networks: is the decision justified or exaggerated? Is it normal party bawling to sing about the prostitute Layla as “prettier, younger, hornier”? Or is sex work played down? In all the babble of voices, a video appears in which, of all people, Christian Schuchardt, Mayor of Würzburg, celebrates “Layla” in the beer tent.
The excerpt shows the mayor on the opening night of the Kiliani folk festival. Just ten days later, his city boycotted the song. “Apart from Kiliani, I don’t listen to any Ballermann music. I don’t know the bands’ song lists either,” said Schuchardt when BR confronted him with the video. In any case, he didn’t consciously notice the full lyrics of the song in the marquee atmosphere and had to google it afterwards. According to Schuchardt, he is still behind the decision to ban “any kind of racist, sexist or extreme songs” at city events. The decision in the Würzburg city council came about in the context of the Donaulied, also a long-standing party hit. Its text is about a woman who is raped in her sleep. Of the Süddeutsche Zeitung Schuchardt said: “I also find the current broad discussion about what works and what doesn’t work important and right. When is a song misogynistic and to what extent does an organizer promote sexism through passivity or false tolerance?” A public organizer of a family folk festival must also ask such questions.
Bad publicity is better than no publicity? In any case, for Layla and thus for the label Summerfield Records, the nationwide debate has brought a lot of clicks since Monday. The song has cracked the four million mark since the riot.