I bought this little handmade clay flute in 1982, which means this must be the single oldest instrument that I own. It cost 5 Dutch guilders at the time (roughly 2,50 euro, I suppose). It’s certainly the only item from 1982 that I have in my entire house. I made one of my first recordings with this flute, and I still use it every now and then in combination with electronic treatments.

On one occasion the flute slipped through my fingers and fell to the floor, but surprisingly it didn’t break. Another time I had this admittedly stupid plan, which was to change the color, and an even more stupid plan, which was to use fire to do so. I figured the fire would remove the original color. It didn’t work, but it didn’t hurt it, either, fortunately. The flute still has its original color, and it is still working fine. These days I am very careful with it, and I appreciate that this little instrument is still with me.

This material originated as something I made for a project that didn’t work out. At first I wasn’t sure what, if anything, to do with it, but then I realized I like it just as it is. I decided to not add anything, and to instead simply mix these six tracks (two for each part, as this piece is basically in three parts) together into one file. That file then became this EP.

This track is available on vinyl via Knekelhuis:
knekelhuis.bandcamp.com/album/echo-transformations
(December 13 - 2021)

Reviews / quotes:

NIEUWE NOTEN
Naar eigen zeggen is een fluitje gemaakt van klei het oudste instrument in Banabila’s verzameling, hij kocht het ooit in 1982 voor toen nog vijf gulden en het heeft letterlijk de tand des tijds doorstaan (zie Banabila’s verhaal op Bandcamp). Hij beperkt zich op ‘The Three Stages of Endurance’ niet tot dit fluitje, maar het speelt er wel een belangrijke rol in. Het primitieve geluid is duidelijk te onderscheiden en Banabila verweeft het op knappe wijze in deze sterk stromende, zeer kleurrijke compositie. En juist dit fluitje zorgt voor het exotische karakter in dit stuk, samen met de grote diversiteit aan elektronische klanken die we hier tegenkomen. (Ben Taffijn)