Don't put too much stock in the band's name: It's not composed of dried-up Summer of Love stoners, and there are only 13 members, not 17. In Berlin, from whence this unclassifiable acoustic motley-folk crew hails, the term hippie is lobbed indiscriminately at anyone half succeeding at an idealistic pursuit -- and it fit the band's earliest incarnations and fluctuating membership. Head Hippie Christopher Blenkinsop -- whose ukulele may conjure Tiny Tim, but whose Irish bouzouki does not -- formed the group in 1995, six years after the Berlin Wall had crumbled and flooded West Germans with a torrent of new music from Eastern Europe that hadn't made it to the West during the Cold War. Never mind Berlin's pedigree as a hothouse for rock and techno -- 17 Hippies became a singular success with its insane mash-up of Romanian melodies and Turkish meters; lyrics sung in German, English and French; and instruments from banjos to euphoniums.

Heimlich (Hipster, 2007). The group's new disc, out Tuesday 18, includes a Turkish take on "Apache," the ubiquitous instrumental originally recorded by Brit group the Shadows in 1960, and since adopted and endlessly sampled by hip-hop artists. 17Hippies does Nas ("Made You Look”) one better, and throws in a ukulele and Persian hammered dulcimer for good measure.

GERMANY 17 Hippies Sunday 16,9:30pm at Hideout; Tuesday 18, noon at Daley Center; 8pm at Martyrs'