So Much Balkan Fun: Shantel, _Bucovina Club

I cannot emphasize enough what a joy it was to receive this new recording from Germany. DJ Shantel is apparently a popular dance jock in Frankfurt who, while on a trip of discovery of his East European roots, fell entirely in love with the music of the region.

The result is a _very_ original DJ mix and the most fun record of 2003 so far (edging out Easy Star All-Stars´ reggae take on the entire Pink Floyd album, _Dub Side of the Moon_). This CD incorporates absolutely _amazing_ tracks by some entities known to me (Taraf de Haidouks, Goran Bregovic, Kocani Orkestar, Boban Markovic Orkestar), with others less known but at least as good, along with Shantel remixes and compositions, and even contribution by bedroom dubster Rootsman.

Mix CD of the year! There´s one track, for instance, which just sounds like a wonderul relaxed Balkan boogie; checking the liner notes, it turns out to be a transcription by Shantel for Gypsy orchestra of a recent hiphop track popular in Germany. (He does the same thing with a couple of Calypso originals, too. And he even has the perfect good taste to include a track composed by Lajko Félix, that unparallelled recently-only-teenage Slovenian violinist.) The Rootsman contributes something equally fabulous, combining a tarantella by a band from Southern Italy, accordians a-blazing, with heavy dub. Stuff from Macedonia, Sicily, Spain, Rumania, Turkish and Serbian material, New York Russians, Ukrainian reggae! Wonderful! And such horns! And such voices! On most every track!