OMFO / Primitive Equations and guests

16 h DJ Goldfinger | 17 h Alamurad Rakhimov | 18 h Ensemble Mezherep | 19 h Fay Lovsky | 20 h OMFO + Al-Asadi Brothers

Welcome to a country, where folklore meets Kraftwerk! OMFO, is “Our Man from Odessa“, formerly known as German Popov (from Odessa). OMFO stands for a unique blend of traditional sounds and Electronica, the true folklore of the 21st century. He has proven this time and again, with albums that ironically play on Kraftwerk titles: “Trans Balkan Express”, released by Shantel’s label, Essay Recordings, caught the attention of the comedian Sasha Baron Cohen, who used two tracks off the album for his film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan“. His collaboration with Señor Coconut resulted in “We are the Shepherds“. OMFO has also toured with Sainkho Namchilak and he wrote the soundtrack for the first Central Asian pavillion at the Venice Biennale. He has also joined forces with the VJ Maxim Chapochnikov to create the ethnographic audiovisual art project “Primitive Equations“, which uses “field recordings” from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. For the evening at HKW, the duo is setting up a Chaikhana: a stylised traditional Silk Road tea house. Inside, a once-off line-up featuring twelve musicians from the Central Asian Steppe will put on a unique show. The line-up includes the Uighur ensemble Mezherep, Alamurad Rakhimov’s epic works from Turkmenistan, DJ sounds from Turania spun by Conan the Barbarian, Theremin à la Turq and the Al-Asadi Brothers from Iraq.