Biography
About the artist
Michel Banabila, born in 1961 in Amsterdam to a Dutch mother and a Yemeni father, is a sound artist, composer, and producer. His family background reflects a blend of Dutch, Jewish, and Yemeni heritage. A self-taught musician with a intuitive approach to sound, Banabila has released a wide range of works, starting with his first LP Marilli (1983), and has composed scores for numerous films, documentaries, theatre productions, and dance performances. In addition to acoustic instrumentation, he incorporates electronics, field recordings, found objects and fragments from radio, television, and the internet. A recurring element in his work is the use of self-made language or fragmented speech - created through sampling and cut-up techniques. Similarly, his compositions often evoke imaginary creatures or otherworldly environments, suggesting places and beings from beyond known geography.
Live
Banabila made his first live appearances in 1984 with Richard Zeilstra (aka Genetic Factor) and other musician friends at the Tegentonen Festival in Paradiso and at Airwaves in the NL Centrum, Amsterdam. He continued performing live in the mid-1980s with Chi and in the early 1990s with East Meets West, with whom he recorded the album Hoy Babo Hoy, produced by Robert Musso. Since then, he has performed both solo and in various collaborations, often incorporating live audiovisual (AV) shows. In 2002, he performed again at Paradiso in Amsterdam during the album launch of X-Rated: The Electronic Files, alongside Scanner, vidnaObmana, and Biosphere.
In 2013, he performed with video artist Geert Mul at the State X New Forms Festival in The Hague ,and at the DATA exhibition at Stedelijk @ Trouw in Amsterdam. In 2014 they performed at the Logan Symposium at the Barbican in London, and in 2015, they also performed together in Beirut at the Global Week for Syria Festival, with Anas Maghrebi. That same year, Banabila performed solo at the Sonic Circuits Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland, and in 2016, at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC. Together with Radboud Mens and Marco Douma, he gave several live AV performances throughout the Netherlands, including appearances at Le Guess Who – Modulation and the Bimhuis STEIM Summer Party, which were compiled on the limited edition CD 2015 Live.
In 2018, he took the stage at De Haperende Mens in Amsterdam, which ultimately led to the recordings of Just Above The Surface. Also, Banabila has played three times at the Ambient Festival in Gorlice, Poland (2005, 2014, and 2024). In 2016, he performed with Oene van Geel at both the Rewire Festival in The Hague and Audio Art in Kraków. In 2024, he presented an AV show with Ines Kooli at the Uncloud Festival. Most recently, in 2025, Banabila performed live at Le Périscope in Lyon, Magazzino sul Po in Turin, and Café OTO in London, among other places.
Music + collaborations
Banabila's recordings range from minimal loop-based electronica, fourth world, and neo-classical pieces to drones, experimental electronica, and tribal ambient. He has collaborated with a diverse array of musicians, including Alex Haas, Anton Goudsmit, Beppe Costa, Cengiz Arslanpay, Cloud Ensemble, Eric Vloeimans, Erkan Oğur, Gareth Davis, Hanyo van Oosterom, Holger Czukay, Joshua Samson, Maarten Vos, Machinefabriek, Maryana Golovchenko, Mehmet Polat, Mete Erker, Oene van Geel, Peter Hollo, Pierre Bastien, Radboud Mens, Salar Asid, Sandhya Sanjana, Scanner, Willem Cramer, Yaşar Saka, Zenial, and others. In addition, he is also a member of the Disquiet Junto, an association for communal music/sound-making.
Albums
Banabila has recorded many albums, including VoizNoiz (2000) and Spherics (2001), originally released by Steamin' Soundworks (NL). These albums were internationally licensed to Tone Casualties (USA) and Pork Recordings (UK). BBC legend John Peel was the first to play music from VoizNoiz on his show. Moreover, Banabila's tracks appeared in a mix by Osymyso (4AM Eternal - MixMag Magazine) and vinyl followed (Pork 081). In 2001 Banabila joined Holger Czukay's Linear City collaboration project, on the track Ten Steps To Heaven. Furthermore, his collaboration on VoizNoiz 3 (Challenge Records) with trumpet player Eric Vloeimans received the Edison Jazz Award in 2003. In 2004, the duo were also nominated for a Golden Calf Award for Petersburg, Places and Paintings, a film by Ben van Lieshout.
In 2005 Banabila founded his own independent label, Tapu Records. In 2008, Steamin' Soundworks released a 2CD compilation album, Precious Images, that featured 10 years of Banabila's recordings. For the same publisher, Banabila was the producer and co-writer of the album Arhil, by Ali Bahia El Idrissi. The first track of this album was used for the Putumayo sampler Sahara Lounge.
Banabila was also awarded with a composition stipend for the period of 2012-2013 by FPK, the Dutch Performing Arts Fund. His track E.T. was used in Boarding Pass, a mix by French renowned composer / producer Rone for Tsugi Magazine #66 in 2013. In 2021, a remastered version of the track was added to the compilation LP And Felt Like... Later Gaspar Claus recorded the piece for his LP Tancade (E.T. Extra Terre Version) on cello.
Banabila recorded six albums with electronica wizard Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek (Banabila & Machinefabriek / Travelog / Error Log / Macrocosms / Entropia / A Looming Presence) and three albums with viola virtuoso Oene van Geel (Music for viola and electronics part I / part II / Live at Rewire - Whales Calling). Since 2014 he has experimented with a small modular set for his Feedback + Modular + Radiowaves series.
In 2016–2017, three reissues featuring recordings from the 1980s came out:
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Chi – The Original Recordings (ambient / reissue) by Astral Industries (UK),
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Things Popping Up From the Past (early works / reissue) by Bureau B / Tapete Records (DE),
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Trespassing (2LP vinyl; a reissue of his first LP Marilli, and a partly new compilation) by Séance Centre (CA).
In 2018, Steamin' Soundworks reissued VoizNoiz part 1 as a 2LP vinyl album, including a new exclusive remix by Michel Banabila & Oene van Geel. In 2019 Banabila self-released Uprooted, new work with contributions by Peter Hollo (cello), Gareth Davis (bass clarinet), Oene van Geel (viola & stroh violin), Gulli Gudmundsson (bass & ebow), Alex Haas (synth & electronics), and Stijn Hüwels (guitar & electronics) on a limited edition CD. ('a balanced syncretism of musical strategies and forms that becomes more rewarding and provocative with each listen' - Nick Ostrum / The Squids Ear). With Alex Haas he recorded The Woods, featuring Bill Laswell. Michel Banabila also performed on Sun Comes Out from Lithium (Sonicontinuum / 2020) by Alex Haas.
In 2020 Banabila collaborated on the EP The Spaces You Hold with British composer and sound artist Robin Rimbaud. In the same year, 7K! released Cassina, a new single by Michel Banabila & Machinefabriek, for the compilation Ambient Layers.
In 2021 Bureau B released a new compilation featuring more recent works by Banabila: Wah-Wah Whispers. In December 2021, Banabila made his debut on the Amsterdam-based Knekelhuis label, with his celebrated LP Echo Transformations.
In 2023, Pingipung released Baba Soirée, an album showcasing his collaborations with Pierre Bastien. That same year Banabila recorded the EP Night Eyes with jazz legend Dave Liebman. In June 2024 Knekelhuis released Banabila's second LP for the label; Unspeakable Visions.
In May 2025, Pingipung released his second LP with Pierre Bastien: Nuits Sans Nuit. Also in 2025, Glasgow based Invisible Inc Records released Resonance: 10 Years Of Vibrational Sounds From The Heart Of Invisible Inc, a compilation featuring artists like Michal Turtle, David van Tieghem, and many others, including a track by Banabila: Memories Of The Forest.
Other projects
Besides making albums, Banabila works with theater, dance and visual art on more conceptual artistic projects. Banabila worked on various films, videos and video installations with video artists Geert Mul, Olga Mink, Nan Wang, and photographer Gerco de Ruijter. With Geert Mul he had an audiovisual live set; Big Data Poetry, which they performed in venues like The Barbican (London) during the Logan Symposium 2014, and TENT (Rotterdam) during Sound Spectrums 2012.
With Olga Mink he performed at the LUX Festival (Sevilla), the VAD Festival (Girona) and the State Of The Image Festival (Arnhem) in 2006. For Gerco de Ruijter he did sound design for several stop-motion animations and video installations, like the critically acclaimed Crops, shown in the Hirshhorn Museum (including a live performance by Banabila - Washington DC, 2013) and Ringdijk at Panorama Mesdag (The Hague / 2016). Nan Wang's video for Banabila's A Sense Of Place (with Oene van Geel) was shown at NFF (Netherlands Film Festival). And in 2019 Banabila scored Nan Wang's Pareidolia, that was shown in 2019 at IFFR (International Film Festival Rotterdam).
Dance
In the summer of 2010, Michel Banabila performed live with Conny Janssen Danst during a three-week open-air event, Common Ground, on the roof of De Hofbogen in the centre of Rotterdam. Each week, Banabila had a guest improviser: Mete Erker, Daniella Bernoulli, and Corrie van Binsbergen. In 2011, he toured the Netherlands with Corrie van Binsbergen and Conny Janssen Danst in Life-Live! to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Conny Janssen Danst. In 2017 Michel Banabila & Maarten Vos toured for four months across The Netherlands with Home, a critically acclaimed dance performance by Conny Janssen Danst with live music.
In May 2018, San Francisco Ballet used Banabila's remixed version of Jump Cuts in Guernica, a choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. In 2019, Banabila was commissioned by Philadelphia Ballet to compose new work for Yin Yue and commissioned by Patrick O' Brien to compose work for Patrick O'Brien Collective, with support from CUNY Dance. In 2023, Banabila was commissioned by BalletMet to score a choreography by Yin Yue (Timeless Tide) with support from Northrop, which premiered at Asian Voices and by YYDC to score a choreography by Yin Yue (Somewhere), which premiered at New York Live Arts in 2024. Furthermore, Banabila was commissioned to score Presenting Rage, a choreography by Camryn Stafford with support from CUNY Dance, which premiered at Gibney Dance in New York (2025). On 5 September 2025, Somewhere will have its European premiere in Rovereto, Italy.
