Nile Rodgers asks populist Swiss party to stop using We Are Family ‘soundalike’
The songwriter and musician Nile Rodgers has asked Switzerland’s rightwing populist Swiss People’s party (SVP) to cease and desist from using a “soundalike” version of Sister Sledge’s hit We Are Family in its election campaigns.
Ahead of Swiss parliamentary elections in October, the Eurosceptic and anti-immigration SVP on Monday released Das Isch d’SVP (That’s the SVP), a song whose chorus directly echoes that of the 1979 Sister Sledge hit composed by Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.
An accompanying video showed the sunglasses-wearing party delegates dancing and waving glow sticks in a Zurich nightclub.
Chic’s co-founder Rodgers, who as a teenager was a member of the Black Panther party, has a long history of political activism in support of progressive causes.
“I wrote ‘We Are Family’ to be the ultimate song about inclusion and diversity at all levels, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion or sexual orientation”, he tweeted. “I condemn its use by the SVP (Swiss People’s party) or anyone else not keeping with the values of the song and all decent people. The purpose of the song is to bring joy to all with no exclusions!”
Thomas Matter, an SVP delegate on the national council who is credited as the artist behind the song under the moniker DJ Tommy, told the Swiss tabloid Blick this week that the campaign anthem was an original composition.
“I know the song by Sister Sledge, that’s also a super song”, said Matter, a former businessman who in 2017 was listed as the second richest politician in the Swiss legislature. “But Das Isch d’SVP was written especially for this project and has nothing to do with We Are Family.
“Of course, in pop music there are a million songs that sound alike, there’s nothing surprising or new about that”, he added.
Matter appears to be a long-standing admirer of the disco classic: according to a portrait of the politician published in Swiss magazine Republik in April, “We Are Family” is the ringtone on his mobile phone.
As of Tuesday Das Isch d’SVP was no longer available on YouTube, with a message citing a copyright infringement complaint from Sony Music Publishing. A stripped-back “sovereignty remix” of the same song is still available on the site.