German musician Bodo Wartke has taken the world by storm with his tongue twister song “Barbaras Rhabarberbar” on social media. Decryption and story of a viral phenomenon, to the point of catapulting the word ‘rhubarb’ to the top of Google searches in May 2024 and restoring the image of the German language.
German musician Bodo Wartke is passionate about tongue twisters, difficult-to-pronounce texts that he sets to music. On stage, he has been playing the piano in cabaret style for twenty-five years. However, it was social networks that made him famous around the world.
It all starts on December 13, 2023. On his Instagram and Tiktok accounts, in duo with the German musician Marti Fischer, he publishes a video in which he tells the story of Barbara, who cooks the best rhubarb cake in the world and who opens its bar, the “Rhabarberbar”. With its catchy rhythm and almost hip-hop dance music, the song is a hit on social networks.
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From Germany to Australia, from Australia to the whole world
In spring 2024, the video for “Barbaras Rhabarberbar” reached Australia, where two dancers created a choreography to the song. They post the video in turn and the buzz is launched: two days later, the American dancers Cost n’Mayor repeat this same choreography and present it to their seven million subscribers.
Now, via social networks, the whole world is dancing and singing to “Barbaras Rhabarberbar”. Bodo Wartke and his sidekick Marti Fischer end up dancing the choreography themselves. On Instagram, this video currently has 30.5 million views.
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Internet users, famous or not, translate the song into their language, particularly English and French. Irish tap dance duo The Gardiner Brothers also take on the choreography in their own way. Ditto for the Franco-Portuguese comedian and journalist David Castello-Lopes.
And that’s not all: on Google, in May 2024, searches for the word “rhubarb” explode. Ditto for the terms “German hip-hop”, “Barbara” and “abracadabra”.
Beyond prejudices
Taking advantage of this success, Bodo Wartke printed T-shirts bearing the image of the song, which he published on Spotify, while reservations for his concerts exploded. In the comments of his videos, German and foreign fans say they want “Barbaras Rhabarberbar” to represent Germany at Eurovision in 2025.
In interview granted to the German newspaper RND on May 15, 2024, Bodo Wartke explains that he is happy to present a different image of his country to the rest of the world. “It’s nice to see how I manage to dispel the prejudices of non-German speakers towards Germany. The cliché is that Germans have no sense of humor and that the German language seems aggressive. Thanks to ‘Barbaras Rhabarberbar’, some people are rethinking that.”
Radio subject: Nolwenn Gorgoni
Web adaptation: Myriam Semaani
