Tapan is a Belgrade-based project created by Nebojša Bogdanović, one of the 20/44 club devotees, and Goran Simonoski, the producer who was behind the music projects Belgradeyard Sound Sistem and Piece of Shh, and the composer for several theater performances in Serbia and Great Britain. Both have been present on the local and international music scene since the nineties, and in 2015 they combined their diverse musical experiences into a creative act called Tapan.
Tapan is not an ordinary “electronic” studio project and smoothly avoids simple categorizations. While working in the basic duo form, the project also evolved into a quartet, building connections between electronic sound, jazz improvisation and the pulse of Eastern percussive orientalism. In addition to Bogdanović and Simonoski, the Tapan quartet consists of saxophonist Jamall Al Kiswani and percussionist Feđa Franklin.
Since cooperation is one of the important aspects of this musical project, its scope is constantly expanding, so numerous renowned local and foreign musicians appear in Tapan’s recordings.
So far, they have released several albums and EPs, mostly for foreign labels from the USA, Israel and Germany. The debut album “Europa” (2017) met with great approval from local and foreign audiences, and numerous invitations for performances followed: Italy, France, Israel, Morocco, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania… This double LP reflects the atmosphere of disappointment and uncertainty related to the future of Europe and the world. In one track they were joined by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, a Canadian musician of Lebanese origin, and some of the tracks were remixed by renowned artists from the world scene.
Together with the Moroccan band Generation Taragalte, Tapan released the album “Atlas” (2019) on the prestigious British label Soundway.
The album “Novi Svet” was released in September 2022 by German Offen Music.
Their performances move between free improvisation and interpretation of original compositions, providing a fluid combination of live, traditional instruments and contemporary music production.
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