Macedonian drums

[groot]

Was at a wedding a few weeks ago, the usual sort of thing - short ceremony then off to a boozy reception. So the night moves forward, everyone's been fed and the dodgy dj's set up to play the best hits of the tragic 80s.

Fascinating story so far I know.

Anyway, the dj only makes it about 3 songs in when suddenly they cut his feed and these 3 elderly men start making their way through the room, one with a small stringed instrument and the other two banging on these two-sided drums (a Tapan maybe? Closest in definition I could find but can't find a soundclip to check it). Turns out the Bride's family is Macedonian and quite a few relatives had flown in from overseas so her parents were keen to provide some traditional elements.

Now I may have been listening through a layer of Catered Moonshine but those drums were sounding like the End Of The World - truly epic stuff, the kind of beat that raises armies. I knew straight away it was a sound worth pursuing further for inspiration or even sampling. Problem is from the Macedonian music I've been able to track down nothing has come close to it.

Does anyone know the style I'm talking about?

[kritikon]

Dunno...you mentioned it was a boozy reception: You sure it was Macedonian drums, and not just a hazy recollection of someone throwing Macadamia nuts at you?

[Meffy]

Don't know the style, but it sounds exciting.

[safeaim]

Macedonian folk has borrowed quite a bit from greek and turkish music, so you could find the same drums in a lot of greek and turkish songs..

[soulata]

Macedonian artists:

look for "Vlatko Stefanovski", "Leb i sol", this is more rock oriented stuff with some tradional thrown in, Ferus Mustafov (gypsy music),...some more, I'll have to think.

k

[Voidoid Surrealist]

Another good balkan percussion artist is Stoyan Yankoulov. Bulgarian, rather than Macedonian, but very good stuff.
http://www.stoyankoulov.com/

Among other things, he plays the Tupan, which is just the Bulgarian name for Tapan.

Here's an MP3 sample of some of his stuff, does this sound like the instrument you were looking for?

[tuz]

was it one of these?



try to find gypsy music from all over eastern europe, don't get stuck in macedonia.

[tuz]

those drums were sounding like the End Of The World - truly epic stuff, the kind of beat that raises armies.

funny you would say that. the ottomans put fear in the enemy with their janissary music. using the drums and all. i guess it even inspired mozart and beethoven. mehter is the word you're looking for. world's first military band i guess.

have a listen:

http://home.comcast.net/~t.uz/hucum.mp3

[tuzemec]

Yeah, Voidoid and Tuz are right and Voidoid gave a really nice example with Stoyan Yankoulov.
Tapan (тъпан) is a common folklore instrument on the Balkans, not just gypsies / macedonians.
But it's really hard to record properly