“Come into the Light”: City of Trier and KRASS Association Release Child Protection Song

Many children and adolescents from different neighborhoods were involved in the production, and they celebrated the premiere of the music video together with the creators and cooperation partners last Friday at the Broadway Filmtheater.

“The idea was to create something that as many children and adolescents from all neighborhoods of Trier as possible could identify with,” explains Elke Burchert, Network Coordinator for Child Protection, Early Assistance, and Family Education at the Trier Youth Office. She partnered with the KRASS Cultural Education for Children and Adolescents association for the project, which implemented the music video production between February and May 2023.

Bitburg musician Marc Rohles composed the music for the child protection song and directed the production. The lyrics were written by Trier author Franziska Wonnebauer. Some children contributed their ideas for the lyrics during a writing workshop. Through singing auditions in Trier youth centers, a jury selected four talented singers who rehearsed the song with the youth choir director from the city theater.

Other children and adolescents were involved in the filming of the music video: Lead actress Finnja Lukas plays a girl who is bullied at school in the video. The 13-year-old regularly performs on stage with the youth choir of the Trier Theater. Nevertheless, the music video project was exciting for her as well: “It was a completely new experience with the camera, and I had an incredible amount of fun.”

Lead actor Vitus Vasa fulfilled a dream by participating in the music video and finally tested his acting talent. The 10-year-old took on the role of a boy in the video whose mother (played by Stephanie Theiß) is an alcoholic and unable to manage daily life. Instead of going to the movies with his friends, the student has to do the grocery shopping.

Both children are encouraged to seek help by the singers in the video. The phone numbers for the Children and Youth Helpline of the Child Protection Association Trier and the “Number against Grief” are displayed in the video. In the bridge, the children manage to “come into the light.” The lyrics become more hopeful.

For example, it says: “We raise the flag of hope. (…) We climb up the mast, without fear of heights, the new world is full of wonders.” And: “We have reached the top, we’ve made it, we feel powerful. The problems look small from up here, the moment is unforgettable.”

This bridge is rapped by 12-year-old Adem Shakjirov. You wouldn’t even notice that this is his first major musical project; he performs the rap confidently. Along with his fellow singers Johanna Richter and Lale-Geraldine Kirchhoff, he performed the child protection song in May following the prevention theater piece against sexual abuse “Trau dich” at the TUFA.

At that time, the children received applause from around 260 students and teachers. Singer Johanna Richter remembers: “It’s very cool that we received so much applause; it touched me a bit.” Sixteen-year-old Lale is also glad to be part of the project: “I thought it was nice that I could use my voice for a good cause and move people with it. That really made me happy.” Composer and producer Marc Rohles is pleased with the positive response to the music video at the launch event at the Broadway: “It’s a wonderful feeling to see this here.”

The music video for the child protection song “Come into the Light” will be shown in the coming weeks in the film preview at the “Broadway Filmtehater” cinema in Trier. It can also be viewed on the channels of KRASS e.V. and the city of Trier on Instagram and YouTube.

The article was published on September 22, 2023, on lokalo.de.