O.M.F.O. — Our Man From Odessa — Наш Человек Из Одессы — это проект Германа Попова. В 1989 году Герман эмигрировал в Амстердам. Там он основал собственный лейбл Kidnap и группу Sputnik. В основе музыки OMFO — богатые музыкальные традиции Украины, балканских стран, в том числе и балканских цыган, что роднит его с Кустурицей и Бреговичем. Для Германа Попова музыка народов Закавказья также близка и понятна. В его проектах часто играют музыканты с Кавказа.
Первая пластинка Попова “Trans-Siberian Express” выпущена на франкфуртском лейбле Essay пару лет назад. Она разошлась на саундтреки и была использована для оформления среднеазиатского павильона на Венецианской бьеннале. Среди поклонников OMFO также оказался Саша Барон Коэн, использовавший песню “Magic Mamaliga” в качестве заглавного трека в музыкальном оформлении фильма «Борат».

Второй альбом Германа Попова “We Are The Shepards” записан совместно с Уве Шмидтом. На “We Are The Shepards” мы вновь встречаемся с Востоком, под которым OMFO понимает все, что лежит справа от Припяти.

Тут и Балканы пришпилены, и песни на азербайджанском языке, и дагестанская джига, и казачок, и цитаты из шансона, и уютные, как звон ложечки в граненном стакане, реверберации чисто советского музыкального прошлого. Отметить стоит «Необыкновенные глаза», перепетые в стиле даб предельно близко к Рашиду Бейбутову, и пронзительное «Утомленное солнце». Вживую – диджей на фоне расшитого ковра, казахская танцовщица, джигит с дутаром и азербайджанец с баяном – концерты OMFO выглядят прямо-таки дружбы народов надежным оплотом.

Страна: Нидерланды, СССР
Лейбл: Essay Recordings
Жанр: World
Ресурс: www.omfo.net

OMFO и Таджикистан

В октябре 2007 года благодаря поддержке проекта Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia OMFO (имеется ввиду сам Герман Попов) посетил Таджикистан, где он имел возможность поработать напрямую с музыкантами Бадахшана.

Это привело к серии мультимедийных шоу в Европе и Центральной Азии «Falak — the Heavenly Music on Stage», которые стали результатом богатого опыта, который OMFO приобрел в ходе записи своего последнего альбома. Альбом Omnipresence является катализатором для слияния двух казалось бы несовместимых концепций — традиционные культуры и эра современных технологий. Более подробно это описано ниже в тексте с сайта группы Германа Попова.

Music from Omfostan!
Omnipresence is the opus magnum of the explorer and discoverer OMFO. Years of travelling far and wide, making hundreds of recordings, delving into ancient musical cultures, learning to play strange and unfamiliar instruments, have culminated in this experimental electro- acoustic masterpiece. An unprecedented combination of sound and instruments takes us on a journey through time and space, captivating the imagination from the very first moment.

His first album on the Essay Recordings label, Trans Balkan Express, put OMFO in the international spotlight. Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat) even chose two tracks from the album for the soundtrack of his latest film. On his second album, We are the Shepherds, OMFO led a virtual flock of sheep into orbit and let the shepherds make music in zero gravity.

After that, he concentrated on developing his stage performance according his maxim of “back to the archetypes”. Collaborating with artists and musicians from around Eurasia is his greatest passion; traditional cultures and their connection with cosmic metaphysical forces his greatest inspiration.

OMFO wants to introduce western audiences to what he regards as the “intrinsic modernism of the Orient”. This includes extending the listener’s experience of music beyond the boundaries of mere entertainment and taking it into the realms of ritual.

His Primitive Equations project, with DJ Goldfinger – a series of events featuring the music and art of indigenous people – uses “field recordings” accompanied by video projections of related images. In October 2007, thanks to the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, OMFO was able to visit Tajikistan, where he had the opportunity of working directly with musicians from the remote Pamir mountain region of Badakhshan.

This led to a series of multimedia events throughout Europe and Central Asia: Falak — the Heavenly Music on Stage. It is from this wealth of experience that OMFO has drawn the inspiration for his latest album. In his quest to resolve the issue of traditional cultures and their role in the age of technologies, Omnipresence is a catalyst for the fusion of these two seemingly irreconcilable concepts.

At the same time, OMFO continues to work in the field of film music, mainly creating soundtracks for the video installations and performances of leading Kazakhstan artist Almagul Menlibayeva, whose work will been shown again at the Venice Biennale this year.

Expeditions into Central Asian Dub Space
OMFO’s reflections on his new album
It all started in a chaikhana somewhere in Central Asia. As I was enjoying a bowl of tea, suddenly the east of my brain started to send strange signals to my body. And then my vision of the world turned into the abstract motif of a Turkmen rug. The whole universe transformed into a carpet ornament. The sound of prayer calls, noisy bazaars and barking dogs dissolved into the eerie desert wind.

The next moment I found myself sitting on the back of a camel. Our long caravan was drifting through a bright yellow space, toward an invisible horizon, where sand dunes and sky merge. Where we came from, what we were, and where we went, nobody could tell. No-one spoke a word. We were in a dreamlike state.

Suddenly, one of the camels started to sing and soon the whole caravan was humming along. With a sudden jerk, the western part of my brain hurled me back into the tea house. The beautiful song I had just heard slowly faded away.

I took another sip of tea and when I looked up, I saw a mountain range flashing by. I was on the bullet train to Dushanbe. Next to me was a girl with eyebrows curved like the crescent moon, and a little birth mark on her cheek. Her sensuous eyes radiated love and she smiled mysteriously while listening to her turquoise iPod. On the small display I saw the secret of her joy: she was listening to OMFO.

Just as I was about to say something to her, the train stopped in the middle of nowhere. When I got off the train, I saw a long carpet that leads me to a richly decorated yurt.

It was as though I was expected there. A group of nomads dressed in colorful chapans offered me a bowl of fresh kumis. Their vintage Russian world receiver played some mellow Pamiri Dub, and a few electronic arabesques, until it broke down. The horse milk had made me very tipsy and just like a djinn, I flew straight to the Pamiri Mountains. I landed in a deserted kishlak, where I was welcomed by an almasti. Soon a whole family of these six feet tall bigfoots joined us in some Neolithic ritual.

We were chanting some abracadabra and as we were circling around a huge tree, going faster and faster, we heard the sound of thunder. A bolt of lightning struck the tree, and from its center a Siberian shaman appeared.

While beating his drum he invoked the spirits of my innumerable ancestors. In a split second I realized that I was able to go wherever I wanted to, at the speed of my wish. The drumming transformed into countless songs and melodies that spread through my vast brain like a blazing fire — Music! Incredible music filled the whole universe! Omnipresence!

Дискография

OMFO
Omnipresence
Essay Recordings AY CD 22 (EAN 881390202225)

01. Tipsy Djinn
02. Sindbad the Spaceman
03. The Sorcerer
04. Expedition East
05. Pamiri Dub
06. Baghdub
07. Arabesque
08. Windhorse
09. Tajik Equations
10. The Lost Polyphonics
11. Pagansonic
12. Caravanserai
13. Siberian Abracadabra
14. Almasti
15. Kashgar Chai
16. Beauty Mark
17. Native Nocturne
18. Opium
19. Omnipresence