We had Senor Coconut in Istanbul 2 weeks ago and there was this guy playing after him, called O.M.F.O.. I first thought his name was Orko, then a few variations like OMFUG etc. quickly followed. But the real OMFG moment was when he began to play. He came on stage in a suit, introduced himself, he was a tall guy in front of a small desk and an 808, then he put out his brass instrument resembling Ney (or was it?), and began to play some bizarre music that could be labeled as Slavic Dub from Turkmenistan Steppes. The crowd immediately reacted by leaving the dancefloor to the 50 year old guy that does the same moves on every type of music and a few people trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Most of the people that night wasn’t feeling electric at all anyways, with Argenis Brito of Senor Coconut trying to get them in shape in between songs, they were probably there because they knew the originals of the songs that SC covered, and seeing this tall strange guy playing homemade ethnic techno music must have been shocking to them.

Being your friends who are interested in strange stuff like this and trusting Mr. Uwe Schmidt’s musical ability, we continued listening to this kitsch, folk electronica hybrid. Well guess where I saw OMFO a few days later “Our man from Odessa” once more!. He’s on the soundtrack to the latest comedy sensation Borat! with two songs. To tell the truth he could have made the whole soundtrack by himself, because this is the perfect Borat sound, kitsch folk music and the absurdity of playing the music to people who are not getting the humor.. Ahh, that is the best part!

Now after reading his bio I’m totally amazed by this eccentric talent.

This is the album for present day shepherds. You can enjoy it listening alone, immersed in your own shepherd fantasies or dancing with a fellow shepherd or shepherdess.

As an explorer German Popov loves to travel around Central Asia making live recordings of everything from the traditional songs and melodies of the steppes to the modern restaurant bands of Tashkent with their tinny keyboard sound. So welcome to electronic Walachia, where folk meets Kraftwerk and where bizarre instruments and electronic sounds combine to create a whole new musical dimension.

His latest album “We are the Shepherds” is a collaboration between him and Uwe Schmidt done by sending audio data back and forth between Amsterdam and Santiago. It’s out on Essay Recordings, which is a lovely label featuring the talents of Amsterdam Klezmer Band, Senor Coconut, Shantel and Balkan Beat Box.