Michel Banabila
Backgroundnon_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth date1961 (age 65–66)
Birth placeAmsterdam, Netherlands
GenreElectronic
OccupationMusician, composer, producer
Years active1983 – present
LabelBureau B, Séance Centre, Challenge Records (1994)
Websitebanabila.com

Michel Banabila (born 14 April 1961 in Amsterdam, Netherlands) is a Dutch composer and sound artist. His work spans electronic and experimental composition, with output across film, documentary, theatre, installation, and contemporary dance contexts.[1]

Musical style

His compositions frequently incorporate found sound material and manipulated vocal fragments using sampling-based techniques, spanning ambient music, minimal music, drone music, and plunderphonics.[1][2]

Career and collaborations

He has collaborated with choreographers including Annabelle Lopez Ochoa[3] and Conny Janssen,[4][5] and composed the score for Somewhere by Yin Yue, performed at New York Live Arts in 2024.[6] Banabila performed live[7][8] in 2013 in the auditorium of the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, at the opening[9] of the exhibition of Crops,[10] an audiovisual installation with photographer Gerco de Ruijter. He performed live with media artist Geert Mul with their audiovisual set Big Data Poetry[11] at the Logan Symposium,[12] in the Barbican, London, in 2014 and in Yukunkun at the Global Week For Syria[13][14] in Beirut, in 2015. In 2015, he also appeared at the Sonic Circuits Festival,[15][16] Silver Spring, with a small modular improv set. Banabila is a member of the Disquiet Junto group.[17][18] He lives with his wife and daughter in Rotterdam.

Awards

In 2003, Banabila and trumpeter Eric Vloeimans received the Edison Award in the Jazz National category for VoizNoiz 3 – Urban Jazz Scapes.[19]

Discography

  • Marilli (Eduard Vingerhoets, 1983)
  • Des Traces Retrouvees (Trichord, 1984)
  • VoizNoiz: Urban Sound Scapes (Steamin' Soundworks 1999)
  • VoizNoiz II: Urban Sound Scapes (Tone Casualties, 2001)
  • Spherics (Tone Casualties, 2001)
  • Spherics II (Boudisque 2003)
  • Phonema (Tapu, 2003)
  • VoizNoiz 3 – Urban Jazz Scapes with Eric Vloeimans (Javaanse Jongens, 2003)
  • Live-Mix (Requiem, 2005)
  • Hilarious Expedition (Tapu, 2005)
  • Music for Films & Documentaries (Tapu, 2007)
  • 0+1+0+1+0+1+0+1+0+ (Tapu, 2010)
  • Changing Structures (Tapu, 2010)
  • The Latest Research from the Department of Electrical Engineering (Tapu, 2011)
  • In Other Words (Tapu, 2011)
  • Sum Dark 12 (Tapu, 2012)
  • TENT 06 & 16 & 2012 (Tapu, 2012)
  • Gardening (Tapu, 2012)
  • 47 Voice Loops (Tapu, 2013)
  • Float (Tapu, 2013)
  • ZoomWorld (Tapu, 2013)
  • More Research from the Same Dept. (Tapu, 2014)
  • Music for Viola and Electronics I with Oene van Geel (Tapu, 2014)
  • Music for Viola and Electronics II with Oene van Geel (Tapu, 2015)
  • Gorlice 2014 (Tapu, 2014)
  • Eyes Closed (Tapu, 2015)
  • Jump Cuts (Tapu, 2015)
  • Meet Me in Venice with Beppe Costa (Tapu, 2015)
  • Feedback + Modular + Radiowaves (Tapu, 2015)
  • Feedback + Modular + Radiowaves II (Tapu, 2015)
  • Feedback + Modular + Radiowaves III (Tapu, 2016)
  • Earth Visitor (Tapu, 2016)
  • Early Works (Bureau B, 2016)
  • Sound Years (Tapu, 2017)
  • New Land with Eric Vloeimans (Tapu, 2017)
  • Trespassing (Séance Centre, 2017)
  • Imprints (Tapu, 2018)
  • Just Above the Surface (Tapu, 2018)
  • Winter Sketches (Tapu, 2019)
  • Uprooted (Tapu, 2019)
  • Wah-Wah Whispers (Bureau B, 2021)
  • Echo Transformations (Knekelhuis, 2021)

With Robin Rimbaud

  • Banabila / Scanner (Steamin'Soundworks, 2010)
  • Between Your Eyes And Mine (Tapu, 2013)
  • The Spaces You Hold (Scanner, 2020)

With Machinefabriek

  • Banabila & Machinefabriek (Tapu, 2012)
  • Travelog (Tapu, 2013)
  • Error Log (Tapu, 2015)
  • Macrocosms (Tapu, 2016)
  • Entropia (Eilean, 2019)
  • Cassina (7K!, 2020)

With Pierre Bastien

  • Baba Soirée (Pingipung, 2023)
  • Nuits Sans Nuit (Pingipung, 2025)

References

  1. ^ Simpson, Paul. "Michel Banabila Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  2. ^ "Knekelhuis Dialogues 2 - Michel Banabila". Knekelhuis. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  3. ^ "Annabelle Lopez Ochoa". Pointe Magazine. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  4. ^ "Michel Banabila". Conny Janssen Danst. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  5. ^ "Home is een stapeling van ontmoetingen, niet een verhaal". de Volkskrant. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  6. ^ "New York Live Arts – SOMEWHERE (YYDC)". New York Live Arts. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  7. ^ "Friday Gallery Talk: Michel Banabila". Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Smithsonian Institution. 2013-09-20. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  8. ^ "Programs Calendar". Hirshhorn Museum | Smithsonian. 2010-12-07. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  9. ^ "Museums Openings". HighBeam Research. The Washington Post. August 9, 2013. Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  10. ^ Banabila (2012-02-14). "Crops (Gerco de Ruijter)". Vimeo. Archived Nov 9, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  11. ^ Mul (2015-01-13). "BIG DATA POETRY live at The Logan Symposium, The Barbican Centre. London". Vimeo. Archived Nov 9, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  12. ^ "Programme 2014 - The Logan CIJ Symposium The Logan Symposium 11-12 March 2016". CIJ Logan Symposium. 2016-03-12. Archived Feb 17, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  13. ^ "'Michel Banabila' and 'Geert Mul' at Yukunkun During Global Week for Syria, Beirut Festival". Beirut.com. Apr 19, 2015. Archived Apr 14, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  14. ^ "Global Week For Syria". Syrian Music Lives. Archived Nov 3, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  15. ^ "Sonic Circuits Festival Night 1 - @Pyramid Atlantic". Dc-soniccircuits.org. 2015-09-18. Archived Oct 20, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  16. ^ Barbiero (2015-09-20). "Percorsi Musicali: The 2015 Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music, 18-20 September 2015". Ettoregarzia.blogspot.nl. Archived Jul 31, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  17. ^ "Tag Archives / junto". Disquiet. Archived Mar 25, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  18. ^ Weidenbaum, Marc (2013-01-31). "Disquiet Junto Project 0057: Phoneme Transmit". Disquiet. Archived Aug 1, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  19. ^ "Edison Jazz Award winners archive". Edison Stichting. Retrieved 18 April 2026.