Ian Oliver
Jan Oliver, in the world Jan Winkler, a native of the small German town of Darmstadt, began collecting records in the mid-nineties. The decisive thing in Ian's crankcase was his acquaintance with the eminent fellow countryman, disc jockey Tom Wax. The two music lovers quickly became friends, after which Tom first introduced the younger friend to the course of the club kitchen, and then, in 2004, he invited Oliver, who had grown stronger and more experienced, to become a resident of the new Orange club. There, Jan Oliver quickly becomes a local star, and at the same time hatches plans to make music on his own. His first single "Ian's Empire", a cover version of the anthem of one of the Mayday raves called "Sonic Empire", was released in 2006, and a year later, Jan moved to Berlin.
Jan Oliver's music is not very typical for Germany. His tracks were always kept on elastic electro-house rhythms and invariably "worked" on the dance floor, but on top of the rhythm section the German put funny, if not crazy melodies borrowed from hits of other cultures. Oliver either converted Lambada into an electro-house (flirting with ska and reggae along the way), then adapted Turkish motives for clubs, but he was especially good at handling all kinds of "Balkans". His main hit was a track released in 2007, recorded with Shantel, a German electronics engineer of Roma origin. Oliver took as a basis the track "Bucovina", released four years earlier, sped up and put on a "rocking" house beat. The public liked the new version so much that it remained at the top of the German charts for two months in a row.
Jan Oliver's music is not very typical for Germany. His tracks were always kept on elastic electro-house rhythms and invariably "worked" on the dance floor, but on top of the rhythm section the German put funny, if not crazy melodies borrowed from hits of other cultures. Oliver either converted Lambada into an electro-house (flirting with ska and reggae along the way), then adapted Turkish motives for clubs, but he was especially good at handling all kinds of "Balkans". His main hit was a track released in 2007, recorded with Shantel, a German electronics engineer of Roma origin. Oliver took as a basis the track "Bucovina", released four years earlier, sped up and put on a "rocking" house beat. The public liked the new version so much that it remained at the top of the German charts for two months in a row.
