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Balkan Beats
Eastern European Fusions Burn Up the Dance Floor
“There is a continental European phenomenon. When the Berlin Wall came down, such a big cultural influence came to Western Europe. When you travel from Frankfurt to Vienna, then to Bucharest, which is a regular holiday travel route, in taxis you will hear Balkan melodies and trashy disco beats. This is the sound which is happening right now every day. This is part of our musical culture [it's not foreign].†DJ Shantel
Balkan Beats is a term like Salsa, a catch-all for the various musical traditions of a broadly defined culture. DJ Shantel, aka Stefan Hantel, is the best known Balkan Beats DJ in Europe, blending acoustic music from Serbia, Romania and Macedonia with his own remixes, and those of like minded producers. He describes his Bucovina Club nights as wild parties which absolutely destroy any sense of reserve amongst patrons. He explains “You can play a party rocker, a wild Romanian belly dance tune, and the next one is a ballad, a very sad song, and there is no irritation. It's very tense these nights, people screaming and dancing. The audience is very diverse. We have young generation clubbers and then second, third generation immigrants from Yugoslavia, born in Germany with parents from Serbia, Romania and they are exploring their own music traditions. Then there's the elder generation; it's not a problem when you come with your parents to Bucovina Club.â€
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