JapaLkan (name meaning – Japan + Balkan) was formed in 2014 by a professional musician Naoki Hishinuma (lead vocal and trumpet) who also plays the tuba and the flugelhorn. The band was made together with professional musicians who are active on the Tokyo music scene and across Japan. The band lead, Hishinuma, often performs with the world-renowned orchestra Shibusashirazu. He travelled across Europe with them, including Slovenia, but this will be his first time in Serbia. There are two girls in the band, Ray Morishima (fiddle and back vocal) and Mariko Kobayashi (bass guitar and back vocal). Other band members are Yuki Ichioka (tenor sax and back vocal), Yokota Kiyohiro (guitar and back vocal) and Ryo Tanaka (drums and back vocal). Their first album Ajde! Ajde! Ajde! was out in 2015, and in 2017 they published a mini album Mesečina. Their repertoire includes tracks such as Mesečina, Ederlezi, Underground čoček, Ajde Jano, Niška banja, Oj Coko Coko, etc. Last year in August, the Serbian media covered JapaLkan, which sparked so much attention that a family from Serbia sent them custom-made traditional costumes from Šumadija.