DJ Balagan

DJ Balagan, a.k.a. Sam Hopkins, has been producing his own sample-based “Anthropological Dancehall” tracks since 2003, incorporating Sephardic elements among various other ethnic styles. He served as world music director and hosted Radio Balagan at KJHK radio in Lawrence, Kansas from 2002-2005 and is a freelance music journalist, contributing to Baltimore’s City Paper and Wax Poetics magazine among others. “Balagan creates mixes and tracks from samples and first-hand elements, borrowing styles into a musical pastiche that makes the foot tap while the brow furrows. International elements figure prominently, as the diverse melodies of field recordings mingle with modern beats to represent the United Nations of soul.”