Many people who I meet in my fieldwork have a migrant background. I am fascinated by their diverse life stories and that of their parents. Lately, I came across Cem Karaca and his music. In the 1980s he lived in Germany in political exile. He recorded one album in German: Die Kanaken. When listening to it on youtube I felt as if he had recorded it just yesterday instead of 25 years ago. As if we have not moved on…
Unfortunately, he died in 2004. Check wikipedia for some information on him. Another reason to learn Turkish!
“Es kamen Menschen an” (“human beings arrived”) from the record “Die Kanaken” (1984). Kanaken is a German swear word for Turks. Nowadays, many Germans with a Turkish background use this woord with pride (comparable to the use of the word nigger among some Afro-Americans) in order to identify themselves.
