WOMAD

DJ Shantel

From Germany

If one region of continental Europe has transformed music heads into babbling wrecks more than any other over the past few summers, it’s surely the Balkans. Record stores might insist on racking the region’s records in their narrow world music sections, but there’s been no holding back the Balkan beat as it speeds into the mainstream – whether that’s been through the patronage of the NME, by Basement Jaxx-curated compilations or exposure on the soundtrack to the all-conquering Borat movie. Strange, then, that one of its biggest stars is in fact a German, Stefan Hantel, known to clubheads as DJ Shantel, is the driving force behind the Bucovina Club series of albums (as well as the Frankfurt club of the same name). These records have been the most influential when it’s come to taking the Balkan sound worldwide and his DJ sets are serious fun – low on flashy pretension and high on passion and energy. Find some room on the dancefloor and, afterwards, some room on your shelves for Shantel’s fresh-from-the-blocks new album Disko Patrizani.