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1946

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“De Schorsch Gaggo reist uf Afrika”

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In the 1960s, Ines Torelli and Jörg Schneider take over from Adalbert Klingler, the creator of Migros-Kasperli. This gives Franz Lamprecht, head of Ex-Libris, the idea of producing Kasperli records. The recordings "S'Häxegärtli" and "De verzauberet Schpiegelweiher", written by Schneider, are released in 1967. Soon, there is not a nursery in German-speaking Switzerland that isn't echoing his "Tra Tra Trullala," followed by "Potz Holzöpfel und Zipfelchappe" in the broadest Zurich brogue. However, in 1970 Kasperli faces accusations of racism due to the recording "De Schorsch Gaggo reiste uf Afrika." Using language such as "Chruselischnuseli-Negerchindli" for the girl Zuzu or "Gaggo-Neger" for black people goes very much against the grain of the zeitgeist. Yet it has a massive fan base that is loyal. At the Zurich club Hive, Kasperli recordings are sometimes played instead of hard beats, and, for the amusement of the audience on a TV programme Christoph Blocher quotes: "Hüt en Rappe, morn en Rappe, git e schöni Zipfelchappe." The latest craze is feature film scenes on YouTube into which fans have incorporated original Kasperli dialogue. Around 20 Kasperli adventures are published in total between 1967 and 1995.