2023-06-30 05:37:48
We meet in a café in Prenzlauer Berg, that’s Rainald Grebe’s neighborhood. He is currently working on an Instagram survey with his social media consultant. All advertising for the concert on July 29th in the Berlin Waldbühne. That’s why Grebe is now giving regular interviews. When it comes to paying, it turns out that his wallet is empty. Very sympathic!
Mr. Grebe, I thought of you last Sunday because of your song entitled “Thuringia”. “Difficult Thuringia,” it says.
Ah yes, Sonneberg. The nucleus of the movement, the stronghold. Then it spills over. When I wrote the song, the AfD didn’t exist yet. At that time the country was still without suspicion.
Is it time to write a new Thuringia song?
I once put in a punchline at a performance in Thuringia. In the text I call it “the country without celebrities” and then I sang: Björn Höcke, a history teacher from Hesse. Everyone laughed.
How do you see the success of the AfD in the new federal states?
Well, I’ve already heard from two or three people who are moving back to Berlin from Brandenburg because they can’t stand it any longer. those conversations. You only have to drop a word and it will immediately burst.
What word?
Habeck. Then it’s off.
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Sabine Gudath
person & concert
rainald grebe, born in Cologne in 1971, is a musician and comedian, lives in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg and in Brandenburg. Grebe has written songs about all five East German states, his most famous being “Brandenburg”. In 2021 he made it public in the Berliner Zeitung that he was suffering from an incurable disease.
At the concert theater “Hallelujah Brandenburg” On July 29, around 300 people take part, including the Singing Shrinks (the Charité Choir), the brass band from the so-called anarchist music industry, and the gymnasts from the Berlin Turnerschaft. And Alligatoah, Bodo Wartke, Anna Mateur and Rene Marik.
You also live partly in Brandenburg. Do you know that from your own experience?
Clear. The country and the city are just very separate. And we are the city.
But you’re also half a countryman.
The big difference is being there and not being able to leave. Then you feel left out, you don’t belong to society.
After AfD victory in Sonneberg: Now the Ossis are crying again
Where does the hatred for Habeck come from?
The green hatred is not really deep-seated. They are considered the higher earners, the city dwellers who have no idea of the real problems. Keyword electric cars. There aren’t any charging stations in the country. Ten years ago it was different. Pegida came in 2015, I was in Morocco at the time and I said: what’s going on in Germany. And now the Putin and the Putin friends in the country.
Isn’t that also in the city?
Yes, but only outside the S-Bahn ring.
Where does the Putin friendship come from?
These are such Wagenknechts. The old lefts, even if they also exist under the right. Then they say: You can’t understand that at all. Maybe Russia is something that only belongs to them.
Rainald Grebe performs at the Waldbühne on July 29.Sabine Gudath
And not the townspeople and the westerners, you mean?
Yes, exactly. Russia is big.
And?
This means that people don’t see the negative side of Putin, but that someone manages to govern the country. That the administration is right. I spoke to a Russian yesterday, who talked about the friendly people in the administration. that the system works. And that’s Putin.
And that’s why he’s also allowed to wage war against Ukraine?
That was NATO.
Do you want to talk about Rammstein?
I went to physiotherapy with Till Lindemann’s ex-wife. And I know his half brother. I’ve done a lot with him on stage. That’s a very good guy. He didn’t even know what was in the newspaper.
Do you have a “Row Zero”?
For me, I’m scared of groupies. I’d rather go away. That’s just a problem afterwards. You have to explain to them that you are completely different than on stage. That’s just my job. I thought it sucked when Till Lindemann’s lyrics came out. That it wasn’t connected to the person.
Do you actually still wear the Indian jewellery?
Not really. Then comes the matter of cultural appropriation. The jewelry was a light joke. Now that’s always complaining. He can’t take it. That’s not what the content means. The discussion about cultural appropriation collides with the profession of the actor, with dressing up. I put a lot on and put it off again. And now that’s being taken away from me. The Indian part has a story. My father is a Karl May expert. It’s a Karl May thing. This is not the story of the natives, but an inner-German story with many references. The Indian jewelry was earlier old time. Karl May was perhaps still read in the 1950s. But in the 90s, people took it more humorously. The Saxon tradition. On the other hand, I think it’s good that this is now an issue. I respect that. I buckle. The jewelry doesn’t make it, it can’t stand it.
You said recently that you would no longer write your “Brandenburg” song. Why is that, it’s so funny?
The song isn’t bad, but I have a problem with the punchy punch lines. I live there. I haven’t sung it for a really long time now. But for the Waldbühne – yes, I think so.
Your concert in the Waldbühne is entitled “Halleluja Berlin”, which is a quote from the “Brandenburg” song.
This big event is only possible because of this song. Hence my notoriety.
Does it make a difference that you, as a Westerner, wrote the songs about the East German states?
Clear. It’s all true. In Thuringia they eat dogs – everything has been experienced, but the view is from the outside. The view of the Trip Advisor or Baedecker Wessis. Comedy – that’s all from Cologne. Böhmermann, Stefan Raab. They always say: the stupid East.
Would you accept it if someone told you that as a westerner you weren’t allowed to make a song about the east?
Luckily I’m still free. And that’s all based on experience.
The Charité Choir will perform in the Waldbühne. How did you get that?
My doctor at the Charité recommended it to me.
How are you, if I may ask?
Very good. I’ve had dizziness like this for a year and a half as a result of the strokes, and it’s gone in three days. So the main swindle, not the secondary swindle.
Are you taking any medicines?
A whole bucket full. I also inject myself. i am a patient The deceptive thing is: I no longer have pain. I noticed fifteen strokes, the others didn’t.
How did that change your perspective on life? Are you trying to enjoy it more, as is always said in such cases?
The prospects are not so good. I’m not dying right now, but my brain is decomposing. What I have is a vascular disease. The small veins in the brain burst or narrow. And it’s possible that I’ll be stupid after the next stroke. I’m now in the phase where I’m still trying to do my job. But balance, strength – that’s a problem. And then I ask myself what I’ll do when I can’t perform anymore. But enjoy? It’s nice that we’re talking here, that it’s still possible. I never told myself before how important family is. But now: I won’t kill myself because I have so many beautiful things. But you have the imagination.
I read that your illness is easily treatable.
There are people who are on medication and can live a long time. But I have a subtype of vasculitis, an unclear diagnosis. And that’s difficult. The doctors have to try it out.
Do you feel unfairly treated?
By whom?
of fate.
nope I see many others doing badly too.
There are also many who are doing well.
Yes, but that’s gone now that you belong to them. Suddenly you only see people who are sick or terminally ill or dying. In the hospital I get some infusions and there’s someone next to me who doesn’t know what he’s got either. My problem is that I can have a stroke that leaves me unable to think. Walking with a rollator was also hard. Those are signs. I wasn’t able to speak last week, but only for a very short time. It felt like a leakage current in the brain. Last year after the strokes I was put on three blood thinners and then blood started leaking into the brain. I got seizures. I’m afraid of that.
Rainald Grebe at the photo session in the WaldbühneSabine Gudath
And before dying?
Whatever it is. Die. My God. I still have the feeling that I’m halfway young. 52. I am still in this world too. I’m sitting in the cafe. Becoming stupid is very real and with it a long life. And then not being able to decide whether you want to be turned off or not.
Do you have a living will?
Yes. Also a will, everything. It says I don’t want any life support. But when that point comes, it might be very different. I can’t tell. If I’m stupid, my family would have to decide. I also spoke to my girlfriend about this. But what kind of conversation is that? You have to be in the situation.
And now you’re performing in the Waldbühne.
Perhaps. – Yes, yes, yes, yes.
The concert was supposed to be on the occasion of your 50th birthday. That didn’t work because of Corona. Have you thought in between that you won’t make it to the Waldbühne again?
Yes. Oh well. The distances there are very long and strength is a problem. Because three hours to play. And before that, the advertising, the interviews. Peter Fox only has to snap, then he has the forest stage full.
And you have to work?
Yes, of course. I’m also not that present in the media anymore. That is hard. It’s a gift to still be able to do. Clear. After that I need a week’s vacation.
Where, then?
Brandenburg, Switzerland, Charité. Let’s see.
Is the concert a triumph?
Not now. Everything can fail. Because I can’t make it because I have to cancel. The next stroke.
Could it be your last?
It’s all possible.
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