PRES Sampling #7 – Zamilska
Probably Poland's most well-known techno musician, Zamilska talks to Culture.pl about her personal history with the Polish Experimental Radio Studio and her fascination with Eugeniusz Rudnik.
In 2018, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Ableton created a library of samples based on the archive of recordings made in the Polish Radio Experimental Studio (PRES). So far, sounds created by Elżbieta Sikora, Krzysztof Knittel and Ryszard Szeremeta have been used by more than 20,000 music producers from around the globe. In May 2019, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, together with the British music magazine The Quietus, even announced a competition for compositions using the PRES samples. The contest also commissioned Polish and foreign producers to create works from the Studio’s sample library. Producers including Zamilska, Jacek Sienkiewicz and Jlin have created their own interpretations.
In January 2014, Natalia Zamilska released a music video for one of her songs. By the end of the year, her music featured in a Dior fashion show in Japan. She has released three albums and performed in numerous prestigious music festivals: from Kraków’s Unsound to Berlin’s CTM and Primavera Sound in Barcelona. She is one of the best-recognised producers of Polish electronic music in the world. Her tracks are played in concert halls and clubs, used in films and T.V. shows (in the Cannes short Best Fireworks Ever and the ABC show How to Get Away With Murder) and were also in the computer game Ruiner, whose soundtrack received the Digital Dragons 2018 award.
Filip Lech: What was your first encounter with the music of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio?
Natalia Zamilska: I was born in 1989, so it was only once I was an adult, a cognisant listener and producer, that I became interested in electronic music history. Earlier, due to my age, I did not have any contact with the studio. It’s only later taht I became fascinated with Czarny Pokój (Black Room), the space designed by Zofia and Oskar Hansen [for PRES]. Then I discovered the works of Eugeniusz Rudnik.
FL: Is the ethos of experiment dear to you? How is electronic music experimental in 2019?
NZ: I have a feeling that all of my art is based on experimentation. I’ve always tried to fit in with diverse style and genres. And I think that for me, that’s what experimenting depends on, in these times where everything’s already been done: finding connections and sounds to create something unique, something that’s mine. It’s incredibly difficult, laborious and oftentimes frustrating. A numerous amount of projects lands in the trash, and I’m constantly thinking: ‘That’s still not it’.
FL: Is the music of PRES outdated or does it sound modern?
NZ: It’s very specific, definitely not for everyone. A product of its times. Rudnik himself, in his notes, wondered if what he created is even music. The techniques, which he among others used, are still in place today: looping, doubling sounds, reverb, cosmic delays. It wouldn’t be reaching to say that it still sounds modern. It is however an excellent database for sounds that can be embedded into current times through projects like this one.
FL: What meaning does the history and tradition of electronic music have for you? Do you refer to the past in your music?
NZ: I think anyone who creates music in any genre does so more or less conscious of its history. Until you feel respect for tradition, you can’t create something new. Personally, I often return to the past. I remember however that I’m only 30 years old and for me the past is the early 1990s. It’s still excellent and I have the sensation that with every year it paradoxically becomes fresher in its meaning and sound.
FL: Which creator from the Experimental Studio do you feel closest to?
NZ: Definitely Eugeniusz Rudnik. I believe that he was a positively weird person from the history of Polish experimental music. I’m fascinated by him. Free, consumed by his own creations.
FL: What is your favourite song from the Warsaw studio?
NZ: I don’t have one. It’s not music that I’d put on for listening. I treat it more like an incredibly interesting and gripping history.
FL: Which sound from the PRES sample library was the most to your taste?
NZ: The ones that I used! I pulled out a couple dozen samples, especially those with a dark and rhythmic sound. I was impressed by all the samples I received. You can build countless worlds with it.
Originally written in Polish Nov 2019, translated by AZ Nov 2019