A star is born

Berdymukhammedov yuks it up with his new hip-hop buddies

As recounted in the article The Talented Mr. Berdymukhammedov Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the former dentist and current President of Turkmenistan, has recently burst upon the musical scene. In a performance before a packed house a video of him projected above the stage showed him singing as well as playing the guitar and accordion as he unveiled a song, My White Rose For You, which was written by him.

If you dare, you can watch the video of his performance below.

As remarkable as his performance was, even more remarkable was that fact that Berdymukhammedov's song sounded uncannily similar to the 2009 song On My Wedding Day by Dowlet Amanlykow. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation as to why the songs are virtually identical. Surely the President of Turkmenistan wouldn't stoop so low as to plagiarize another singer's song?

Then again, there is the odd fact that some 70 pages of the Turkmenbashi's (the previous President of Turkmenistan) literary masterpiece the Rukhnama are word-for-word identical to Clifford Boswoth's The New Islamic Dynasties. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for that too. Perhaps it involves a room full of monkeys at typewriters?