Turkmen leader plays and sings own song… in German? (VIDEO)

Being president of a Central Asian country is a tiresome task, but apparently leaves one time for a hobby. A new video shows the president of Turkmenistan signing his latest in Turkmen, English and (pseudo) German.

Gurbanguly Malikgulevich Berdimuhamedov is an avid songwriter and performer, who usually shares the stage with his grandson Kerimguly. The family duet was shown last week by state media performing their latest creation, a melodic song about the beauty of Turkmenistan sung in three languages.

Playing the tune on a white Yamaha grand piano, the three-time leader of the country sang in Turkmen, English and in what seems to be German, though it was hard to be sure. Some German words can clearly be heard in a flow of other, unrecognized sounds.

What’s even more amusing is that the opposition newspaper Chronicles of Turkmenistan trolled the president in a video of their own, published on YouTube. After the second minute, where Berdimuhamedov is attempting to sing in German, a photo of German Chancellor Angela Merkel briefly stuns the viewers.

The song is at least the third filmed public performance for the Berdimuhamedovs this year. The duo delved into some patriotic rap back in July. The president also offered his cover of a 1982 song by a Soviet band “Krug” (Circle) as his present to the women of Turkmenistan – about Turkmenistan, of course, and in Russian.

Berdimuhamedov, who has been ruling the country since late 2006, has other hobbies too. He loves shooting, horse riding and racing. Combining the latter two turned out to be somewhat of a flop in 2013, when then-55-year-old president fell right after winning the prize.

Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you.