1996-1998 -- The group is founded in Rome in 1996
by keyboards player  Gianluca
De Rossi and drummer Fabio Mociatti,
together with bass player Stefano Proietti
and singer Paolo Cedrone. The group gets
its name from Taprobana, the ancient denomination of Ceylon
Island (Sri-Lanka), where Tommaso Campanella
set his The City of the Sun. With this line-up, between
May and December, Taproban record their first demo-tape. The
band is renovated in the spring of 1997, with drummer Valter
Strappolini (Lamia) and experienced bassist-guitarist
Roberto Pizzi (Libro di Gomma). The group
is inspired by the Synmphonic-Pop or Progressive Rock of the
earlier seventies, that had its best representative groups
in Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant and King Crimson. 
The absence of an electric guitar player and the consequent
prominence of the keyboards, however, recall the triangle
formation of Emerson Lake & Palmer or
Le Orme, creating a sound language that prefers
instrumental parts rather than lyrical. Taproban second demo-tape
is recorded between the 17th and 18th of January 1998, at
L’Elefante Bianco studio in Rome, and it gets a good
review by Giorgio Meloni on Music Box magazine
(n° 16 - aprile 1998 - p. 17 - Italy). Once again, however,
the group goes towards a new break due to lack of enthusiasm
and disagreement. |
2000-2001 -- After two years of inactivity, during
which Gianluca De Rossi
dedicated himself to the composition of new material and the
re-arrangement of the old one, the group reforms in July 2000
with the entrance of Davide Guidoni (Gallant
Farm, The Far Side) on drums and percussions and Guglielmo
Mariotti (Der Bleue Reider) on bass, 12 strings guitar,
bass pedals and vocals. This new line-up, more motivated than
ever, starts working on an ambitious project such as the realization
of a concept opera about Bosco di Bomarzo.
This famous monumental park, formed by several stone statues,
reproduces horrific and grotesque figures, and was realized
in the manieristic period by Pierfrancesco “Vicino”
Orsini at the feet of Bomarzo (VT). Later, on the 8th and
9th of December 2000, a third demo-tape is recorded containing
the first version of the Bomarzo suite. After two live performances
during the summer of 2001, on July 31st at Festa dell’Unità
in Rome, and on August 8th at Poggio Mirteto (RI) Rock Festival,
the group obtained a contract with the French label Musea
Records. In September Taproban recorded at L’Elefante
Bianco their first album OGNI
PENSIERO VOLA.
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