The concept of a German techno dude, wearying of the incessant doof and starting a journey in search for his soul should not be so novel. Whilst he hasn’t entirely left the electronic element behind he as moved into a distinctively Balkan realm. He’s remixed legendary gypsy band Taraf De Haidouks, and his first album in the realm, Bucovina Club took the Balkans into the nightclub. Seven years later whilst still retaining very much a fusion approach, he has opened his work up to numerous collaborators from South East Europe. We’ve got the Bulgarian trumpeters and clarinetist’s (Taraf De Haidouks), Serbian Trumpeters and singers, Greek singers, Sicilian trumpeters (Roy Paci) and a bunch of others in this all star fusion of countries and styles. Whilst Shantel handles some of the vocals himself in English, all close mic’d and sleazy, you also get to hear some incredibly distinctive vocals in Romanian, Serbian and Rom. It all bobs over Shantel’s incessant stomp, retaining the jovial, upbeat freneticism of Balkan music, with big bold bursts of brass, violin and synthesizer. It’s all very respectful, and very upbeat, Shantel never missing the opportunity to add a dance-floor break, yet also some surprisingly well fitting r&b style production. The key seems to be that provided you have those wailing trumpets and gypsy strings fake handclaps are more than okay.
Bob Baker Fish
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