by In fact, hip hop combo Dingolfing “dense & moving” should have received the Bavarian Culture Prize this year. However, the three musicians rejected the prize and the associated monetary prize of 5,000 euros. At the award ceremony they referred to a YouTube video. A written message can be seen at the beginning of the video. It says: “On November 16, 2023, the energy company Bayernwerk AG and the Bavarian state government wanted to award us the so-called ‘Bavarian Culture Prize’.”
And further: “We wanted to use this live marketing gala to generate as much money as possible for a local, independent aid project in Burkina Faso and donate directly to this initiative through Wanno eV.” But this was not possible for them. Therefore, the musicians had no choice but to reject the award. The band wants to donate 5,000 euros from the band’s treasury to an orphan in Burkina Faso.
Criticism of Bayernwerk AG and the state government
After the fade-in at the beginning of the video, you can see the three musicians standing on stage. Everyone wears colorful shorts and sunglasses. They now wanted to show what they would have done at the awards ceremony and give the speech they would have liked to have given at the awards ceremony, while writing. Michael Huber, alias George Urkwell, says controversially in the video: “We have prepared a short speech, why? To say thanks. You can be proud of the state of Bavaria in these apocalyptic times for organizing such a charitable event.”
The bigger the crises, Huber continued, “the more fabulous the profits will be. Regardless of whether they are in the armaments, pharmaceutical or energy industries.” Many thanks go to Bayernwerk AG, whose parent company EON managed to “increase its profit to a meager 8.1 billion euros in the last financial year”. And as a result, we are able to “help artists who need help with the horrendous sum of 5,000 euros for exceptional services in the cultural sector”.
The band also thanked the Bavarian state government, “who orchestrated everything.” “Without spending a single cent of the state’s cultural funds for the awardees present today.”
Responding to a request from BR, Bayernwerk AG said that the winners could use the stage “according to their wishes”. However, the awards ceremony had to follow a “rigorous and meticulous schedule” because the event was broadcast by several local television stations. However, the company emphasizes: “Most of the talk time was dense and moving. The band was able to describe their position on stage openly and in detail and was not interrupted.” They now want to donate the monetary prize of 5,000 euros to the campaign mentioned by the band.
In addition to being dense and moving, author Rita Falk was also awarded
The winners of the Bavarian Culture Prize were announced at the beginning of the month. In addition to Denso & Comovente, author Rita Falk was also honored and cartoonist Dieter Hanitzsch received the special award. To justify their decision, the jury explained: “dense & moving” it launched a new musical genre “in the form of brutal beats combined with satirical political lyrics in the Lower Bavarian dialect”.
The Bavarian Culture Prize has been awarded since 2005 for outstanding achievements in art and science. Artists in Bavaria are honored for their significant artistic work, as well as graduates and doctoral students from Bavarian universities, universities of applied sciences and state art colleges.
