Shanti Roots

Vienna–born Markus Dohelsky approached the world of electronic music for the first time under the influence of the Acid House Movement, at the beginning of the Nineties. Equipped with a 303 and other synthezisers, the prime move as an electronic musician was together with Istvan Zachar in the shape of the project Ohm 8 in 1991, which led to very early performances on stage of the Loop Club. The preoccupation for a straight 4-to-the-floor aesthetics should vanish in favour of a reduced broken beat concept, as soon as Dohelsky listened to DJ Krush’s piece “Influx” on the Radio. The new sample-styled consummate MoWax trademark was nourishment for him and gave vent for his first tracks which Markus Dohelsky produced over the two following years, but in relative isolation and without any existing scene.

His fellow Zachar was sceptical of this new style at that time, but convinced enough to make the connection with EMI Austria. The almost solely produced tracks of Markus Dohelsky were finally released under the pseudonym Shanti Roots in 1997 as the CD “Subcodex”. Between the delivery of the mastertracks and the release, Dohelsky got acquainted with Christoph Ziereis, who joint the project by co-producing “Holy Smoke”, the opening track on “Subcodex”. After a relative success for the Austrian market, but unsatisfied with the promotion of the first release, there should not be any follow-up for the future on the majorlabel. Consequently, Dohelsky didn’t make a move over the next three years in order to get out of contract duties with EMI. He switched to the world of computer engineering, but kept on producing tracks steadily, which yielded some pieces to be released on the Black Coffee Compiltations of Gerhard Scheiber, aka Scheibosan.

In the winter of 2001, Vienna Scientists A&R Manager Jürgen Drimal ressurrected the Shanti Roots to new life. He convinced Markus Dohelsky to release some new tracks on his label and as a result, the “Afrique” – E.P. was published in April 2002 (VIE 0010). Again, Jürgen Drimal had a good nose for talents, and “Afrique” aspired to become one of a record, which ranked high on many internationally well-reputated DJ lists. The E.P. finally entered the DCC on rank 2. This following wind enables the Shanti Roots to go on tour as a live act in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Besides Markus Dohelsky and Christoph Ziereis on Synths and Samplers, the line-up comprised of Joyce Muniz and Aminata on vocals, plus Brazilian-born percussionist Luis Riberio (Count Basic, Gloria Gaynor, Paul Jackson, etc.).

The next output was the making of several remixes for Vienna Scientists Acts like The Menheads, Three Minutes with Mark Murphy on one side, but also for artists, coming from outside. Their recent release is the track “New Toy”, which is to be found on the ne Vienna Scientists Compilation “Vienna Scientists IV- five years of solid grooves”, released in May 2004. All those tracks demonstrate Markus Dohelsky’s affinity towards a deep and powerful bassfoundation, which supports a mighty groove, hovering on a carpet of percussion.