The music video for Paradisio’s 1997 Eurodance hit “Bailando” is an almost comically positive flood of 90s hyperreality, showing the group’s lead singer dancing in a wig and sparkly cowboy hat on yachts and rooftops. But in the past few months, slightly edited versions of the song have been uploaded on Youtube and renamed things like “Paradisio – Bailando I Aryan Classic” or “Bailando. Save Europe.” One top comment reads: “Hello, this is Adolf, I came back. You are all my top guys!” Another says: “0 leftists, 0 liberals, 0 judens, 0 communism, 0 muslims, 100% bailando, bailando.” One caption to a TikTok featuring the song reads: “Save Europe MFers got the greatest bangers of all time fr.”
“Bailando” is one of many beloved dance hits that have been ripped, reuploaded and reskinned as “Save Europe” music by the European far right, and used to propagate anti-immigrant, white-supremacist discourse. The uploaders’ core ideology is rooted in the racist belief that Europe must be saved from immigrants, particularly those who are non-white and non-Christian. Gigi D’Agostino’s “L’Amour Toujours,” Basshunter’s “All I Ever Wanted,” ItaloBrothers “My Life is a Party” and Jan Kloost’s “Europapa” are just a handful of the songs that have been altered — typically either sped up, slowed down, or made somehow more unnatural or extreme — and uploaded to Youtube, often with featured imagery that shows work made by the Nazi sculptor Arno Brekker.
Click here to read the full article for i-D.
