Shantel is like a bridge between cultures. Everybody can find something to love in his music, which has influences from the Balkans, Anatolia, the Mediterranean Europe and even Latin America. Shantel's music is not artificial, it is the fruit of three generations because Shantel is from a migrant family with myriad influences. So he is one of the lead masters and connoisseurs of exotica/electronica fusion. Shantel has a big fan base all over the world and in Turkey. His success derives from his sincerity and his worldview that welcomes everyone from every nationality. Influences by melodies from around the world, his music has a specific character. Sharing his thought about music, love for Turkey, the place of Islam in Europe and the migration crises, Shantel shares many details about his private life and inner world.

Shantel has no formal musical education. He was born to a migrant family in Germany in 1968. He has Romanian-Jewish and Greek roots. He has 11 albums. He started his career as a DJ in Germany. He combined his colorful musical culture with European contemporary music. Shantel has deep love not only for traditional music like Gypsy music and Jewish music, but also for traditional musical instruments. He says that ethnic music has a role in common rituals in societies, not only for joy like contemporary pop music. He collaborated some local artists, including Greek santouri performer and singer Areti Ketime on his album "Viva Diaspora." He says he wants to include every color in his music: "Think about traditional music, it is simple. I mean the structure sometimes is very complicated. But it jumps on you immediately. I am not a traditional musician. But I eat everything."

WRONG TUNE IS THE RIGHT TUNE

He has a very radical approach to his music, catching the wrong tune: "Sometimes I say wow, maybe I cannot do this. Maybe this is bad, maybe this is wrong. But in music nothing is wrong. In music everything is wright. I am not educated in music. I was working with guys from the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra. They said to me while we were working on a melody: This is wrong, you cannot play like this. This is disharmonic. It out of tune, it is out of order. I think I am a person who looks for the mistake and what is the out of order," he said.

'TURKEY WELCOMED ME WITH OPEN ARMS'

Shantel says there is big interest in his music all over the world because it is like a meeting pot. He says that he has deep love for Turkey:

"When I came here the first time, I had no idea what was going to happen. I opened my suitcase and I presented a music of emotions. I have been to so many countries. I receive so much love, so much good energy. It was the first time in my life that people said you are one of us. To be honest, I always expected something like this in Greece because one of my grandfathers is Greek and I have a lot of fans in Greece. But at the beginning, Greek audiences looked at me and said what is he doing there? Is he allowed to do something like this? They became very hypocritical, very suspicious and also confused. But in Turkey nobody was asking questions like that. In Turkey, the environment is more emotional and humanist. It is a little magical," he said.

Shantel says he has good memories of Turkey: "I was in Turkey so many times, I had never ever had a bad experience. Nobody treated me badly, nobody made bad comments. This is about communication and sharing good things," he said. For Shantel, Turkish audiences are distinguishable by their dancing, which he appreciates: "I think that with dancing, nobody can compete with Turkish people. No way!"

TURKISH NIGHTS BECAME POPULAR WITH DISCO PARTIZANI

Shantel has a very important thing that is not known. He is a lead musician who paved the way for Turkish melodies to be loved in Europe: "I remember in 1998 to 2000, when I was DJing a lot and was playing more Gypsy and Balkan music, people said stop the Turkish music, we don't want to hear Turkish music in the discotheque. I said to myself that I was on the right path." By insisting on playing Turkish, Balkan, Greek and Gypsy music during his performances, Shantel opened the way for Turkish music nights to be more common in Europe.

"I was trying to get the right formulation of how I can make them love these melodies. Now I am so happy. Don't get me wrong, I am not thinking it is so special what I am doing. But there is one thing I am a little bit proud of. If you go to Germany, France, the Netherlands or another European country, there is Balkan, Mediterranean Greek and Turkish party nights. Ten years ago it was impossible. With the success of Disco Partizani, it became so popular," he said.

'I HAVE NO BORDERS'

Shantel's mother was born in Buscovina. The reason why he chose this name for his mythical music band is that his music has deep influences from the history of his family. But now the regional references less important for Shantel, because his spirit and his music transcends all the borders.

"I don't care about the identity anymore. For me it is not important anymore. I care only about similarities. So when I came to Turkey, there are a lot of similarities. I don't have to think about anything. I go out in the streets. I eat in restaurants, I drink, I don't speak Turkish, but I never had a problem. I was in Anatolia. I was in Mardin, for example, near the border with Syria. Nobody spoke English. But I had no problem. I had a place to sleep. I got the best food. When I was in the United States a few years ago, I was completely lost. Don't get me wrong, I love the United States. When I want to eat something, they showed me fried chicken at a burger restaurant. I said I cannot eat this. I wanted salad and paid $30 dollars. This is sick," he said.

'I NEVER DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN MY CHILDREN'

Shantel says he can bring cultures together and he has many songs that have version in different languages or he uses many languages in the same song. "One of my songs, 'The Eyes,' for example, there is Greek version and Turkish version of this song, which is called 'Ada Sahillerinde Bekliyorum' [I'm waiting on the Island Shores]. Tolerance between cultures is a process you can only start by sharing emotions. I use my fame for no borders. I have no borders. If you come to me I don't care. There is no visa for me. It is only about human beings, it makes no difference to me. If somebody asks if I can play Serbian music, I say no. Maybe you find something that reminds you Serbia. I am the wrong person for this demand, because my family is so big, I cannot say this is my favorite child."

Shantel, like many, thinks Europe is a melting pot. He likes the positive effects of globalism, but is against stereotypes as well. He sees every culture as equal: "I say I am European. Europe is so multi-ethnic. But why am I not hearing this? I want to hear this more. We are educated by Anglo-American rock and roll stereotype. When you ask a radio DJ if they can play a Turkish or Greek song, they are surprised. I think this is wrong. So in art and in culture I don't make a difference between a German song or a Turkish song. They are equal."

'ISLAM IS A PART OF EUROPE'

He accentuates that Europe has many different cultures and that Islam is a part of Europe, too: "Islam is a part of Germany. Muslim culture is a part of Europe. You cannot say, yeah this is something we don't want to have here. Now we have a big discussion about this." He laments that with terrorism, some people think that Muslims are terrorist. But Shantel says that is wrong, because he says there is no connection between terrorism and Islam. He says that some people use religion for bad political aims and radical purposes.

'TURKISH PEOPLE ARE NOT GUESTS IN GERMANY'

Shantel says Germans should embrace migrants because Germany needs fresh blood because of its diminishing population. He says that even Turkish people who have been living in Germany for years are treated like guests: "I know some Turkish people who have lived in Germany for 40 years. They are always treated as guest even if they have German passports. I think this is really wrong and this is not open-minded thinking."

GERMANY NEEDS MIGRANTS

He says that Germany should embrace migrants: "There is a bloody war in Syria. It seems like nobody wants to stop this war. It creates so much pain, it creates death, it creates tragedies. Germany took a lot of refugees and Germany doesn't have a problem with this because it is a rich country. I think in the long term, Germany will get a lot of advantages from it for the economy."

He says some European countries take money from the EU by using the migration crisis and they benefited from this money a lot: "Suddenly they used the refugee crises to talk about border control. I felt ashamed, this is not the spirit of Europe. We had an emergency-like war. I am very worried about far-right groups in France and Germany. They are on the table but they will not affect our democracy because open-minded people are stronger in Germany". He says Turkey has been having a rough time in the past few years, especially in the international context, and Western countries are rich enough to help Turkey.

'MY MOTHER SUFFERED BECAUSE OF RACISTS'

Shantel's mother lived through difficulties. He says that his mother was a victim of discrimination: "She had problems in the school. As a teenager, people didn't accept her as German. My mother has really dark hair. She looks very Mediterranean, not like me. So she was hiding, she was not showing her identity. When her parents spoke Romanian, she didn't like it and she did not learn the language. My mother was assimilated. I was the first person in my family who was asking questions about our identity. I visited the village in Bucovina that they came from, a region divided between Romania and Ukraine now. I found my grandparents' old house. This was so touching."

NEW ALBUM IS COMING WITH A TURKISH SONG

Shantel gave a concert in Istanbul with Bucovina Club Orkestar and he went on tour, the Shantology / 30 years of Club Guerilla Tour 2017. He is now preparing a new album this year. Shantel loves Turkish music from the 1970s and he plans to include a popular '70s Turkish song on his new album.