"Then they'd strung the cables, according to some complex scheme of Molly's, they hung them with battered sheets of yellow plastic... Case heaved at one of the yellow sheets; the thing was light but still awkward. Zion smelled of cooked vegetables, humanity and ganja. As they worked, Case gradually became aware of the music that pulsed constantly through the cluster. It was called Dub, a sensuous mosaic cooked from vast libraries of digitalized pop; it was worship, Molly said, and a sense of community." - Neuromancer by William Gibson
"Rhythm is a biotechnology: You are the newest mutants incubated in womb-speakers... the labs where 21st C nervous system assemble themselves" - Kodwo Ashun,
"Water carried the sound of the drums and sound carried the distance between the old and the new world" - John Akomfrah The Last Angel of History.
I could all day just posting scientific and fictional quotes about rhythm, music, Time:Space, about diasporic communities, about Balkan, about... whatever. And all of them could easily be representation or review about Tapan's duble 12" Europa. On first, visuasual contact, it was black-on-black mistery, but when you look deeper there is, some-kind-of reflection over words Europa. Dear friends from Tapan, I couldn't resist to talk about politics: as someone who lives near EU, and must always be checked-out when enters, this cover really speaks to me. Europe (Europa) is there, it doesn't exist, on the other side it glitter and have certain apstract meaning of better life. But let's leave that with visuals...
Ok. what is Tapan? When i search, i find out, it is percussive instrument, with very strethced goat or sheep's skin, nd it is streched over special wood: Beech or Nutwood. tapan with the other instrument Zurla. Even Romans wrote about those bands, and their mobility from one village to another. Anyway, doesn't all that resembles you to that specific, not geographic, territory with culture: Balkan.Where Balkan begins and ends, that is now become political thing, so let's go on the other side, thank you.
Tapan are: Nebojsa Bogdanovic (aka Dj Schwabe, resident of world-famouse 20/44 Club-boat, and WE wish mix podcast for us), and the multi-instrumentalist Goran Siminovski, also producer for many theater projects, and worked under pseudonyms: Belgradeyard Sound System (Free Jazz, Improvisation) Piece of Shh (Reagge and Dub).
Must say, I found this record, and listen, and didn't know that these people are about 5hrs by bus from me, that they are from Belgrade. And mine whole idea was to write something very easy, now with this infos, I must to dig deeper, and give my part into helping them, by just writing about. And they really do not need me, but anyway, I want you to go and check it out. Why? Firts these live studio performance in front small crowd, in great studio of local Belgrade Radio 3 (???? someone please help me, I found this irrelevant):
A- must!!!
When they play alive they have relationship with some of people with great reputation in club, rock and jazz circuits. So when you see them live, actually it is really bend.
Let's go back. What is so special about them. First, when I listened for first and second time, they blow me away with agressivness. Their most heavy track Europa, is like a BOMB, Ethno-Jazz-Dub bomb! There is certain agressivness in that bass line, noisy brass instruments and when track reach peak, and what that track makes me: I feel great Bass is pumping through my veins and controls my breathing, while brain is amused with snake language that those sax and other instument creates. And when we put balkan in equation, I feel certain danger in it. also I feel gratitude for those tracks which will be ordinary 2-step dub music, if there is no crazy trumphets and sax, that play classical Balkan-ish sounds.
This wasn't tribal call to war, these was, at leat for me, expression of all my negative energy and agressivness, in that particular track, it is the moment... when I felt greatness.
This is single release mix of the Europa with bass drum.
The rest of the material is pretty much similar, maybe little bit mellow-ish (but just a-bit), and in that endless repetative dub bass lines, and sound of traditional instruments, that send you into trance.
I used to hate ethno music that was coming from Ex-YU scenes, cause it is the music market loves: authenticity - now I love, and it comes with the age. And what we have to represent is music that sounds like combination of Asia, Turkey and Eastern parts of Europe, and we can not forget western culture patterns, cause Yugoslavia always really between eastern and western blocks. During 90's suddenly shadows of tribalism and worst thing that coming from tradition and history, became the standard... especially in the war. I will end this, how (and who), you could separate and make enemies: of the two guys who grow up together in same street, in the same school, first loves, and first drunken nights - they share it. They share everything, why is it become so neceseary to separate people by, not by the pigment of their skin or others methods of separation minorities from others - but by their names, and what was his mother or father name and surname. Someone took history lessons, and found weakness of bloody history, so called bad blood, and started to push into their minds, and like poison, it create murders without any given reason (reason is always somewhere in the "history) and in their best years, they start to fire at each other, house next to house...
I could't seprate that curse and beauty of Balkan, and not talking about it, when I listen and write these lines, while listen their track Bogovi (I wouldn't translate it for you, do it yourself!!!), and what another dredd track, that takes you in the desert, where in your trance you probably trying to find meaning of your life, and your choices.
So music of Tapan, if we skip all genres and styles, is music of traveling far away, someone deep in History that is distorted, or Space itself, or your own Dunes of Arakis. It is tripish, repetative, quite angry in positive way, it is apsolutly, at the end, not Balkan music. It is beyond Balkan, it beyond genres and style, it is beyond World music, it is manifestation of all good things in the people, when they face with them selfs, that why I use word trance so much. You really introspectivly go into yourself, cause it is meant for that - and also for another manifestation of human body and spirit - the good one: DANCE!
Even if record was released almost year ago. I will still listen these tracks, and maybe waiting for some more.
Again! This is my Blog (also you can write if YOU want, please!!!), and I'm glad I do not need to watch my words, and trying to make it simple, for editors to short it even more to fit with web designer plans. Try it for yourself, and I hope we could discuss more, more opinions about this kind of art, is inevitable. And apsolutly, this music is for those who belives in magic, but also for people who care for another, and ones that love... it is even more. It waiting for you on record,CD, or streaming service to try it. If i'll try to write another sentence, I could not stop...
Damir Plicanic
"Rhythm is a biotechnology: You are the newest mutants incubated in womb-speakers... the labs where 21st C nervous system assemble themselves" - Kodwo Ashun,
"Water carried the sound of the drums and sound carried the distance between the old and the new world" - John Akomfrah The Last Angel of History.
I could all day just posting scientific and fictional quotes about rhythm, music, Time:Space, about diasporic communities, about Balkan, about... whatever. And all of them could easily be representation or review about Tapan's duble 12" Europa. On first, visuasual contact, it was black-on-black mistery, but when you look deeper there is, some-kind-of reflection over words Europa. Dear friends from Tapan, I couldn't resist to talk about politics: as someone who lives near EU, and must always be checked-out when enters, this cover really speaks to me. Europe (Europa) is there, it doesn't exist, on the other side it glitter and have certain apstract meaning of better life. But let's leave that with visuals...
 |
| Play Free Bird!!! |
Tapan are: Nebojsa Bogdanovic (aka Dj Schwabe, resident of world-famouse 20/44 Club-boat, and WE wish mix podcast for us), and the multi-instrumentalist Goran Siminovski, also producer for many theater projects, and worked under pseudonyms: Belgradeyard Sound System (Free Jazz, Improvisation) Piece of Shh (Reagge and Dub).
Must say, I found this record, and listen, and didn't know that these people are about 5hrs by bus from me, that they are from Belgrade. And mine whole idea was to write something very easy, now with this infos, I must to dig deeper, and give my part into helping them, by just writing about. And they really do not need me, but anyway, I want you to go and check it out. Why? Firts these live studio performance in front small crowd, in great studio of local Belgrade Radio 3 (???? someone please help me, I found this irrelevant):
A- must!!!
When they play alive they have relationship with some of people with great reputation in club, rock and jazz circuits. So when you see them live, actually it is really bend.
Let's go back. What is so special about them. First, when I listened for first and second time, they blow me away with agressivness. Their most heavy track Europa, is like a BOMB, Ethno-Jazz-Dub bomb! There is certain agressivness in that bass line, noisy brass instruments and when track reach peak, and what that track makes me: I feel great Bass is pumping through my veins and controls my breathing, while brain is amused with snake language that those sax and other instument creates. And when we put balkan in equation, I feel certain danger in it. also I feel gratitude for those tracks which will be ordinary 2-step dub music, if there is no crazy trumphets and sax, that play classical Balkan-ish sounds.
This wasn't tribal call to war, these was, at leat for me, expression of all my negative energy and agressivness, in that particular track, it is the moment... when I felt greatness.
This is single release mix of the Europa with bass drum.
The rest of the material is pretty much similar, maybe little bit mellow-ish (but just a-bit), and in that endless repetative dub bass lines, and sound of traditional instruments, that send you into trance.
I used to hate ethno music that was coming from Ex-YU scenes, cause it is the music market loves: authenticity - now I love, and it comes with the age. And what we have to represent is music that sounds like combination of Asia, Turkey and Eastern parts of Europe, and we can not forget western culture patterns, cause Yugoslavia always really between eastern and western blocks. During 90's suddenly shadows of tribalism and worst thing that coming from tradition and history, became the standard... especially in the war. I will end this, how (and who), you could separate and make enemies: of the two guys who grow up together in same street, in the same school, first loves, and first drunken nights - they share it. They share everything, why is it become so neceseary to separate people by, not by the pigment of their skin or others methods of separation minorities from others - but by their names, and what was his mother or father name and surname. Someone took history lessons, and found weakness of bloody history, so called bad blood, and started to push into their minds, and like poison, it create murders without any given reason (reason is always somewhere in the "history) and in their best years, they start to fire at each other, house next to house...
I could't seprate that curse and beauty of Balkan, and not talking about it, when I listen and write these lines, while listen their track Bogovi (I wouldn't translate it for you, do it yourself!!!), and what another dredd track, that takes you in the desert, where in your trance you probably trying to find meaning of your life, and your choices.
So music of Tapan, if we skip all genres and styles, is music of traveling far away, someone deep in History that is distorted, or Space itself, or your own Dunes of Arakis. It is tripish, repetative, quite angry in positive way, it is apsolutly, at the end, not Balkan music. It is beyond Balkan, it beyond genres and style, it is beyond World music, it is manifestation of all good things in the people, when they face with them selfs, that why I use word trance so much. You really introspectivly go into yourself, cause it is meant for that - and also for another manifestation of human body and spirit - the good one: DANCE!
Even if record was released almost year ago. I will still listen these tracks, and maybe waiting for some more.
Again! This is my Blog (also you can write if YOU want, please!!!), and I'm glad I do not need to watch my words, and trying to make it simple, for editors to short it even more to fit with web designer plans. Try it for yourself, and I hope we could discuss more, more opinions about this kind of art, is inevitable. And apsolutly, this music is for those who belives in magic, but also for people who care for another, and ones that love... it is even more. It waiting for you on record,CD, or streaming service to try it. If i'll try to write another sentence, I could not stop...
Damir Plicanic
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