tapan
A traditional wooden drum (made of beech, walnut or chestnut), covered with tanned goatskit/sheepskin on both sides. The skins are stretched over rings and are strung with ropes which alternate diagonally on both rings.
The tapan is played with two specially designed drumming sticks: kukuda and pračka.
Kukuda is made of walnut wood; its shape resembles a pipe. The pračka is a thin switch, usually made of dogwood or willow.
The tapan player (tapandžija) holds the tapan strapped over the shoulder, in a slightly tilted position, so that he can strike with the kukuda on one side and the pracka on the other side. This playing style results in a captive mixture of deep and of short pitched sounds, sometimes in a complex rhythm with rather unpredictable drumming patterns.
The tapan is rarely used in solo performances. It is commonly played along with other instruments, particulaly zurlas.
This tapan is designed to withstand the weight of a person, as expected of it during the performance of folk dances. The skins can be tightened by pulling the ropes straight up, sequentially one by one.