'Shantel: Bucovina Club' SHANTEL presents the brass bands of Macedonia and gypsy swing of the Wallachei. BBC world review " In the wake of the last few year's 'digitalisation' of African, Latin, Caribbean and Asian genres, it was only to be a matter of time before Middle and East European Roma music would start to attract the attentions of the international remix community. In the wrong hands, though, this ecstatic clamour of brass, percussion and strings could easily be castrated. So it's a relief that the first serious attempt to do (almost) a whole album should be (1) done by a full-blooded Roma DJ, Stefan Hantel (aka Shantel) and (2), carried off so convincingly, without overegging the pudding. The record's a sort of imaginary soundtrack to a defunct but (in its heyday) amazing, vodka-fuelled, gypsy-rave all-nighter club, the Bucovina, that used to take place in the staid portals of an elegant old Frankfurt theatre. Wisely, Shantel's approach lets the music shine through the technical haze: so, for example, alongside a dub-heavy Rootsman rework of "Ta Truvidia" sit original, unmessed-about-with cuts by many of the significant acts from the Balkans, Macedonia, the Wallachei, the Ukraine and Romania: Banda Ionica, the mighty Taraf de Haidouks, Goran Bregovic and Fanfare Ciocarlia all make rousing contributions. But Shantel tantalises us with just one superb DJ/orchestra workout, 'Disko', with the Boban Markovic group. One hopes that this is simply a taster for a further, more radical project in the near future. More, please!'
