Hagen Rether (born October 8, 1969 in Bucharest) is a German political cabaret artist. The most remarkable features in his performance are usually the presence and use of a grand piano and his carrying a baseball club (in the German context it is less related to sports than to street violence) while entering stage, then puts it on the piano before taking off his dinner jacket. Then a red armband can be seen, featuring the black symbol of the German public employment agency within a white circle.
This seems to be an intended allusion to the Nazi's swastika armband, thus alluding to Edmund Stoiber, former minister-president of Bavaria and leader of the conservative CSU, who in one speech referred to unemployed East Germans as voters of the neo-Nazi party NPD.
Among the topics Hagen Rether relates to are not only federal, state and international politics, but also religion, media, consumerism and globalization.
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Hagen Rether spent his childhood in Bucharest and Sibiu, Romania as the son of German, Transylvanian Saxon parents of Siebenbürgen.[1] In 1973, his family relocated to (West) Germany settling in Freiburg im Breisgau. He began studying the piano at eight years of age and attended the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, where he still lives today (2008).
Prior to touring with his solo show, he was the pianist in Ludger Stratmann's show as well as performing with other artists. Since 2003 he has presented his show "Liebe" (en.: Love), which he constantly updates and varies according to the contemporary requirements of every performance.
His show is predominantly political. Sometimes he begins by eating a cup of yoghurt. Throughout much of the show he alternates or accompanies his monologue with the piano modifying song selection, tempo and style according to the topic he is about to cover.
Important targets for his satires and biting ironies are, among many others, the Catholic Church, George W. Bush and well known German artists like Günther Grass, whom he criticizes for not admitting that he had actually been member of the Waffen-SS until August 2006, during which time he received a Nobel Prize for (as Rether implies) bad writing. Another target is German pop singer Herbert Grönemeyer, who he alleges for commercially exploiting his own wife's death in his songs.
Using parody, he targets historical and contemporary people using political and medial transcripts for his satires (e.g. Jürgen Rüttgers).