Booka Shade — House & Electronic DJ DuoBooka Shade
Booka Shade, the German duo of Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier, originally from Frankfurt, has built its reputation as much on its live show as on studio releases, having released underground material since the 1990s before co-founding Get Physical Music in 2002 with M.A.N.D.Y., Thomas Koch, known as DJ T., and Peter Hayo. Their breakthrough came with 2005's Mandarine EP and the M.A.N.D.Y.
co-production Body Language, both of which helped establish Get Physical as a defining house label of the mid-2000s, and their live show reached a wider audience following a pivotal performance at Sónar in 2005. Since then, Booka Shade has played major festival stages including Coachella, Glastonbury, Rock Werchter and Red Rocks, and has opened for Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk, bookings that led Resident Advisor to name the duo one of the top five live acts in the world and DJ Mag to include one of their sets among its list of unforgettable performances from the history of Exit Festival.
Their remix catalogue includes reworks for Depeche Mode, Moby, Hot Chip and Rüfüs Du Sol, and in 2013 they founded Blaufield Music as a home for their own releases and for emerging talent. Pete Tong inducted the duo into his BBC Radio 1 Hall of Fame, recognition that reflects nearly two decades of touring built on their hybrid live-electronic performance format.