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"Adriano – Letzte Warnung" Brother Keepers Brother Keepers is a collaboration of Afro-German hiphop/ soul and reggae artists, who take a stance against racism and right-wing violence in their songs and performances. Adegoke Odukoya, a rapper and founder of Brothers Keepers, had the idea of an Afro-German collaboration as early as in the mid 90s. However, this is what Odukoya has to say about the social reality of that time: “The problem of right-wing extremism and violence was over and done for them, you suddenly ran into serious trouble when trying to find a label for such a project. Deutsch-rap was the ‘it’ thing, and all it was about was summer-sun-sunshine.” Only because of the greater popularity of Afro-German artists such as Xavier Naidoo, Samy Deluxe or Torch such projects could be realized. Alberto Adriano was born in Mozambique, he had been living in Germany as a contract worker for 20 years, until in June 2000 he was beaten to death by three skinheads in Dessau; this murder was the initiating point for the foundation of Brothers Keepers. The single “Adriano – Last Warning” expresses the pent-up rage of Afro-Germans and migrants. Torch raps in his part: “Thinking of Germany at night just puts all thought of sleep to flight – Adriano, my brother, was killed / Skin colour: black. Blood red. Silence is Gold.” And Samy Deluxe and D-Flame criticize the conservative mainstream in the following rap: “Look, man, the last years have proven to me far too often / That people arise when others have lost their lives / But then it’s too late, you should address this more often [...] In the State Parliament, a bill is being discussed / While the next Nazi plans another attack / People feel regret at the infamous act, but I ask myself: / ‘Why does yet another black family gather around a grave?’”/ With an anti-racist message, the single “Adriano – Letzte Warnung” by Brothers Keepers made it into the charts. To the right-wing scene, this amounted to an affront. The success of the single enabled an alliance for anti-racist activities to be founded, which has more than 80 members today. Earlier this year, Brothers Keepers have released their second album. |
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