NEKI STRANAC is Serbian electronic dance music
producer, DJ and musician born in 1979.
Coming from family of musicians, NEKI STRANAC got involved into music
since the age of six, playing guitar and later bass guitar, vocals and ethnic
and medieval woodwinds. Parallel to his instrumentalist and vocalist
self-exploration in his 5-member jazz-rock band ShazaLaKazoo (formed in
1995), in the mid-90`s he got into music recording and production through
legendary Tascam Porta Studio mixer, which was the analog tape-style
preparation for computer music production that followed in 1998.
First electronic music genres he was involved back in late 90`s and early
2000`s were trip hop, drum`n`bass, jungle and breakbeats, which were in
their peak in Europe back then. As the time got by, his music orientation
changed more into ethnic inspired sounds from various corners of the
World, such as the Balkans, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East or India.
With ShazaLakazoo, which previously also changed the course from
semi-acoustic jazz-rock to electronic dance music, he got involved in
European electronic music club and festival scene, playing in most
European countries (mostly Germany, France and Scandinavia) as well as in
South Africa. With ShazaLaKazoo, NEKI STRANAC has various releases
such as two full albums "Speaking Balkanian" (Self-Released, Serbia, 2010)
and "Karton City Boom" (Eastblok Records, Germany, 2011), double album
- anthology of older tracks from 1999 to 2007 "Special Reserve Red and
White Volume" (Mushroom Lounge Recordings, Canada, 2011), and various
EP`s such as "Bang! Bang!" (Generation Bass Digital, UK, 2011) and "Zica
Memo" (Downpitch, The Netherlands, 2012).
NEKI STRANAC solo career began in 2010 with the rise of moombahton
movement worldwide. NEKI STRANAC music can be described as
moombahton / global bass electronic dance genre, heavily influenced by
cumbia, kuduro, baile funk, Balkan brass, kwaito, house and electro. From
2010 up to this day, NEKI STRANAC is described as one of the most
influential and fundamental moombahton artists in the world, and
definitely the most prolific one. NEKI STRANAC has more than 250
remixes, refixes and edits, as well as dozen originals, such as his
collaboration with Australia`s Tom Piper "Bo!" (No Frills label, Australia,
2012) or "Mndra" (upcoming trap release for Downpitch, The Netherlands,
2013) with a lots of originals and remixes soon to be released.
His work is repeatedly supported by influential sites, blogs and magazines
such as Generation Bass, Mad Decent, Tropical Bass, Mixmag, Headliner
Mag, Moomba+, Top Billin and others, with his remixes being released for
such labels as Man Recordings, No Brainer Records, UrbanWorld Records
and Downpitch. Due to numerous NEKI STRANAC works and reworks, his
music is being played by DJ`s and radio stations worldwide. It can be
easily said that almost no moombahton and/or global bass party anywhere
in the world today is held without at least one of his tracks being played.
Various sub-styles of his work allow him to create completely unique live
sets consisting of his own production solely, that can be mellow or hard,
slow and fast, or just mashed-up stylee. In addition to that, he plays
synth themes and solos live with his EWI USB, which is a kind of electronic
USB-clarinet, and uses the microphone for vocal shouts, which makes his
set as live as one-man band can be.
NEKI STRANAC performed live in Belgrade, Zaječar, Zrenjanin, Pančevo
(Serbia), Paris, Toulouse (France), Bogota (Colombia), Rotterdam, Utrecht,
Tilburg (Netherlands), Antwerp (Belgium), Moscow, Tula (Russia), Wiener Neustadt (Austria) and Mannheim (Germany).