Michel Banabila

𝟭𝟮𝙩𝙝 𝙄𝙨𝙡𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙮𝙡 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 '𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮' 𝙗𝙮 𝘿𝙪𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞-𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙡 𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙖.

"Following on from the November release of the Material Things / Pike album Rain & Cymbals, 12th Isle enter the new year with a limited vinyl edition of Through Global Frequency, a prescient work of ambient synth, electro-acoustic music and voice recordings by long-standing Dutch multimedia artist Michel Banabila (b. Amsterdam, 1961).

Structured around a poem largely composed of titles from recordings he has made over the years, and written during a period marked by new Dutch migration policies, the genocide in Gaza, and the rise of the far right across Europe, Banabila enlists the voices of friends and family, each reciting the poem back to him in their native language. These voice recordings are set within a unique composition that works with the tonality, cadence and rhythm of the vocals, encompassing languages such as Arabic, Spanish, isiZulu, German, French, English, Japanese, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Dutch. Contributions come from Scanner (Robin Rimbaud), Ines Kooli, Sebastian Lee Philipp (Die Wilde Jagd), Yuko Kobayashi, Simone Eleveld, Cengiz Arslanpay and more.

“I felt the need to create something warm, something that embraced diversity. Every voice here is uniquely recognisable and reflects how I know them. I truly enjoyed working with these recordings, focusing on their personalities and the distinctive sound of their languages. For me, making music has always been a way to stay sane, and I have always loved working with voice recordings.”"