"I visited Planet Paprika for a while.. I had to meet the
Disko Boy..
We talked about some Disko Partizani situations and then i
figured out
that the Kiez is alright...
Ladies and Gentlemen, i present you, Mr. Stefan Hantel (aka
SHANTEL)! "
-Hello, Stefan! It’s
Christmas time and 2012 is almost gone..
Where are you at the
moment and what are you planning to do the last week of this year?
Ciao from Berlin! Well, i don't really celebrate
anything. I did my last live concert 20.12. in Vienna, which was really great!
Now I am still touring, almost every night, as a solo DJ all around Europe
until 01.01.13. For new year I will do a
big party in downtown Istanbul...
-Recently, you released a
new single and video “The Kiez is alright”. New music style, new sounds, new
rhythms. Why did you choose to “leave” from the Balkan genre?
I truly believe in songwriting! I wrote the
"kiez" in Berlin, while some cars where burning in the streets of
Frankfurt in main, where the European central bank held its headquarters. It
was something like a year ago and the city got shocked by some local riots
against daily bank policy...I think every idea, emotions and of 'course a
strong song needs his individual voice to express the maximum out of it. i felt
the "kiez" like that. Pure & simple! I wasn't even thinking
about a genre, sound or something. I love music in general and still use a very
pluralistic point of view when I am in the studio. I started the 2012 live tour
with my band in early April, since these days we play the "kiez is
alright" every night live on stage long side with disko partizani and my
other hits and the kids really love it, so do i...
-You are known as “The
king of the Balkans”, “The Disko Partizani guy” or “The Balkan Miracle”! How do
you feel about all these? Did you expect that the “Disko Partizani” record
would be so successful?
You know, i don't really change. It's always
something from the outside, people start to treat you different. The hotels get
better and the cars get bigger. i don't really give a damn' about it. When i
can, i prefer do walk and i still love staying somewhere in friends private
flats and eat the dishes of the family. The funny thing is, that disko
partizani wasn't an instant hit at all. I clearly remember that in the
beginning i received a lot of bullshit from the outside...i think the song
found its legacy by itself and of course it went around the world, i was deeply
impressed when i played a few month ago in mexico city and saw the 20.000 kids
where screaming: "disko, disko partizani" these are the positive side
effects about globalization, i think!
-When did you start
playing music and when you decided to follow the music of the Balkans?
Well, music was always a good reason to waste my time. I wasn't really
hysteric going to school or university. I felt always the power that music is
able to create. Anyhow at a certain point things got speedy and i found myself
being part of this surrealistic jet-set party thing, in the beginning it felt like
a joke, but these days i really think it’s a fantastic opportunity to
communicate and to exchange with a worldwide community of all different kinds
of people, their culture and live-styles. I love it. It’s much deeper than any
kind of university or school.
Even though, one of the biggest misunderstandings is maybe all this story
about Balkan etc. I think the club culture phenomena, let's name it as "Balkan
pop" is a truly Diaspora 'thing! It started and happens in the Diaspora.
In places like Frankfurt, Vienna or Berlin, local kids, dj's and producers with
and without a cultural background founded something virtual new. I am sure, not
my Romanian grandmother, or my Greek grandfather, is making me a better
musician. "Balkan pop" was never representing or reflecting the Balkans
as a geographical region. We just used it as an idea of a new flavor, of a
different sound and attitude, hedonism & fun. Suddenly it turns into a kind
of new continental European music hybrid, which is of course quite unique.. but
as i mentioned i feel a really big gap between the approach of some local DJ's
in Berlin, Barcelona and Bologna and the geographical and political reality
that we declare as the Balkans. Over the years i experienced so many different
places in the south-east and for sure, the audience, the concerts where just
mind blowing, but cultural wise it’s like discovering the desert. The so called
Eastern Europe is turning into a kind of dark side of the moon. It’s the uprising
nationalism, chauvinism, corruption, racism and anti-semitism ideas from the
past and being not a part of a liberal and pluralistic, democratic vision anymore.
I don't know but I am really shocked about the daily politics in Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia...etc.
-Many of your tracks are
based on Jewish melodies. You have also released the “Kosher Nostra” record
which includes Yiddish songs and ballads. What is your connection with this
culture?
I don't care about being Jewish, gypsy and gay and purple or yellow and
black. I mean I am coming from a Jewish family but i don't give a shit. I don't
believe in God or religion but i respect all and everybody as long as they
respect me too.
As a curator of the family of human beings, i love to research in all
kind of directions. The kosher nostra project is mainly the story about
immigration & assimilation and not so much about the Jews. I mean some of
these characters became famous gangsters not 'cause they where Jews, it’s
because they were simply human beings.
-As a musician, why do you
think that there is so much interest in Balkan Gypsy music and brass bands?
I don't think there is a big interest? It’s not in
the (North -Western ) radio, it’s not in the TV. We can easily say, that the
mass-media didn't notice anything and this is again another part of the
European paradox. It’s easier to catch up with an Anglo-American country song
instead of a cheesy Greek pop song in the western European media platforms. Maybe
the romantic idea of brass bands and the mystic smell of the Balkans are just exotic
element that some people need to dream on. I think it’s quite reasonable that
everybody needs at a certain injection to feel this lovely breeze of anarchy
& romance, even if it’s just a blueprint of something not really existing
anymore...
-When you are having a DJ
set, do you play only Balkan music? Is it better to mix other kinds of music,
too or it’s easy to lose your musical “identity”, in this way?
My music has no passport or ID card! It’s only about
emotions and expressions, if we give a sound to a certain nation I am OFF! DJ's
should be there to entertain, doesn't matter with what and how. Of course
everybody needs the key, a kick, needs a language of how to perform, as long as
the people trust into the performance, you can do what you want. I personally
love the freestyle and the pluralistic sound, Rock' n’ roll, partysani! It
should be sexy, hot and raunchy, that’s what the people love me for...and of
course a real Greek wedding underneath!
-A few months ago, you
wrote on your Facebook page that your tour in USA was cancelled because the
U.S. embassy didn’t give you a visa. Why this happened?
I really don't know? Maybe cause i mentioned in a big German TV
interview, Obama should close down Guantanamo, or maybe they did not like my
shirt, who knows.. Instead of the U.S. i spend fantastic days in Canada.
-Which are
your plans for 2013? Could we wait for a concert or a DJ set of yours, in
Greece?
I'll be back in Greece:
07.02 to 09.02 , Patras, Thessaloniki und Athens.
See you then, my lovely “malakas”!
-If you had only one day to perform live with your band “The Bucovina
Club Orkestar”, where would it be, which track would you definitely play and
who would you invite as a special guest?
I would love to play naked in Teheran - Iran, in
front of some Taliban, doing striptease to them bringing girls, woman with big
breasts and play them some pornographic movies, while singing my new song
"fucking feels better than praying"!
-Thank you very much, dear Shantel and happy new year full of music!
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
-http://www.bucovina.de/
OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE:
-https://el-gr.facebook.com/ShantelBucovinaClub
