Friedrich Merz walked in to his song: Soho Bani is threatening the CDU with legal action

It was probably supposed to be an upbeat performance. At the Junge Union’s Germany Day in Halle at the weekend, CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (68) took the stage to the sounds of Soho Bani’s (25) “Time for something to turn around”. Bani, whose real name is Felix von Heymann, re-recorded the song originally published by Herbert Grönemeyer (68) for the home European Championships in 2024 – but in the context of Germany Day, von Heymann apparently doesn’t want to hear it.

The musician turned against the use of his music by the Junge Union. Bani shared an excerpt from Friedrich Merz’s entry into Germany Day on the social network. You can hear the song “Time for something to turn around”. Several people present clap along to the beat. The hip-hop star writes: “If you continue to use my song at Friedrich Merz’s events, I will take legal action.”

The song “Time for something to turn” is probably particularly well known to German football fans. It was once composed by Grönemeyer and the duo Amadou & Mariam for the 2006 World Cup. The song became the anthem of the “Summer Fairy Tale”. Bani then published a new interpretation in February of this year for the home European Championship 2024, which will also be held in Germany. The rousing song made it to the top of the German single charts for four weeks.

The fact that musicians prohibit the use of their well-known hits at election campaign events and threaten legal consequences is particularly well known from the US election campaign of Donald Trump (78). The Swedish superstars ABBA, singer Céline Dion (56) and the rock band Foo Fighters recently spoke out against playing their music at Trump events.