(AFP) - Berlin-based Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim has joined the Staatskapelle Berlin and the West-Eastern Divan
Orchestra in becoming the latest members of the German musical community to return their past Echo Music Awards in a protest over anti-Semitic rap lyrics.
Outrage has grown after the prize was handed this month to rap duo Kollegah and Farid Bang, who in their song "0815" say their bodies are "more defined than an Auschwitz prisoner". Barenboim said in a statement on Monday that the rappers' lyrics are "clearly anti-Semitic, misogynist, homophobic and contemptuous of human dignity" and constituted an "abuse" of free expression which society must "never tolerate".