Freundeskreis

Esperanto → English translation→ English

Translation

German (Original)

Esperanto

Click to see the original lyrics (German)

intro:

Freundeskreis1 '99

with (the usage of) Esperanto2 (you'll be) internationally understandable, yeah, yeah

we set off messages in vocabularies declared dead3

Esperanto's finding its way into German suburbs

Freundeskreis becomes amikaro4

the Tupac Amaru5 of Stuttgart's6 barrio7

our lingvo8 translates this melting pot

we provide to you the hip hop sound in which the world is reflected

cause we kept the vision and remained true to ourselves

that's for the heads that love rap from 07119

Miliano Mondano with the posse

Don Phillippe10 and Frico11, the disc jockey

the philosophy: street poetry

a lingua franca12 for all left-wingers13 and immigrants

it is '99, today rap is universal

A&R's14 are looking like b-boys15, the culture is smashed to pieces due to the (big) money (involved)

the media's definition of hip hop is a farce

we do what we've done always, except that the context's fucked

I get a headache of too many canned16 pop songs

but FK doesn't get lumped together with them

there's nothing holding us back, nothing letting us stay put

we spread it out over the hills of Stuttgart to the world: Esperanto

chorus:

Esperanto,

that's the language of love

that will be spoken by and by

Esperanto,

and on this (very) day hope will be born

Esperanto

Esperanto - viewpoint of people like us

of those who enrich the (culture) and not only grow themselves rich on culture

a synonyme for '"let a hundred flowers bloom;

[...] a hundred schools [...] contend"17 in rap cyphers'

Esperanto - an answer to the cultural brankruptcy

music is an universal language, not a quick buck

¡escuchá el lenguaje,18 rap's bel-canto19!

fiddle, like Castro20, the first violin to the biz' last tango

Esperanto - eloquent definition:

a quick-taught lingvo for an international dialogue

(it's) based on Romanic21, German, Yiddish22, Slavic23

no linguistic imperialism or prerogative of the educated aristocracy

Esperanto - no deficit if you don't get it right away, it's more important that you read between the lines

(that) you get inspired by our style, (that you) feel what my input is

I be lyricist, international linguist

Miliano soul guerrillero24

the songwriting partisan, the last Mohican

on the mic, amigos, estaj representanto25

FK amikaro, motto: Esperanto

chorus:

Esperanto

that's the language of love

that should be spoken by and by

Esperanto,

and on this (very) day hope will be born

Esperanto

for all the people of all countries

for all the people who are present here,

Esperanto '99

the times will change with this new sound

and if you like this sound here

amikaro and Déborah

it's just the beginning, you can count on that

we believe in Esperanto

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freundeskreis
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto
3. This line is particularly plurivalent: if the phrase "Wir besetzen Botschaften" would be said to a German native speaker without any given context, he or she would first and foremost interpret it as "we occupy embassies" since one of the more commonly used meanings of the verb "besetzen" is "to occupy" and since normally buildings, places, rooms and such can be occupied, the word "Botschaft" would be understood as "embassy". However, "Botschaft" also means "message" and etymologically a "Bot-schaft" used to be something (a gift, message or such alike) handed over by a bearer (a "Bote"). Later a group of bearers or envoys were also called a "Botschaft", and from there the meaning "embassy" evolved. And thus this word is also perfectly referring to "Wortschatz" (literally: treasury of words) since the ancient bearers and envoys also handed over treasures and treasuries. I think there's also a mixing of two commonly used syntagmatas: the first "Botschaften besetzen" (to occupy embassies) and the second "Botschaften absetzen" (to drop/leave messages). As referrence to the latter, I chose to translate "besetzen" in this particular context as "set off".
4. Esperanto for "circle of friends", the literal translation of the group's name
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart
7. Spanish for "neighborhood", "suburban district"
8. Esperanto for "language"
9. dialling code of Stuttgart
10. a member of the group
11. DJ Friction, a member of the group
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politics
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A&R
15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-boy
16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canned_music_(disambiguation)
17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign#History
18. Spanish for "(you all) listen to/pay attention to the language!"
19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel_canto
20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro
21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages
22. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish
23. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_languages
24. Spanish for "guerrilla (fighter)"
25. Esperanto for "friends, I'm representing"