Taroug

Taroug is the solo project by drummer and electronic music producer Tarek Zarroug.
With roots in the suburbs of the Tunisian desert and having grown up in Germany, Taroug‘s music seamlessly blends together disparate elements to create a cohesive whole, with pulsating rhythms of organic electronic drums fusing with an array of rare and exotic instruments from around the world, along with field recordings, analog synthesizers and hypnotic vocals, to transport listeners to a world both strange and comforting.
Following the release of his 2020 EP, "Perpetual," as well as a number of notable remixes for artists such as Archive, Taroug has continued to refine his musical aesthetic. This has led to a collaboration with Denovali Records for the release of his debut album.

NEW ALBUM "CHOTT"

On his new album Chott, German-Tunisian producer and composer Taroug confronts his
origins. Named after the Chott El Djerid, a vast salt lake in southern Tunisia, the ten-track
album revolves around personal history and the search for identity.

Chott is a conceptual work shaped by contrasting atmospheres, from minimalistic
melancholy to raw, bass-heavy intensity. It blends traditional instruments with
contemporary electronic textures, drawing lines between past and present. Personal
materials—such as vocal samples from family members—add layers of intimacy and
cultural depth, most notably on the title track, featuring an original Arabic poem spoken
by Taroug’s father, and on 1995, a song reflecting on early childhood memories in Tunisia.

Beyond these intimate dimensions, he works with sonic imagery that captures the sensory
experience of heat and landscape in pieces like Saraab and Sirocco. In Nakhla, recordings
of palm trees transformed into repetitive movements evoke scenes of southern Tunisia’s
palm plantations, where organic and mechanical sounds converge.

For the artwork, Taroug once again collaborated with architect and designer Marie
Brosius, assembling an experimental collage from old personal photographs of Tunisia
that visually echoes the album’s themes of heritage and remembrance.