Ana Gnjatović (voice), Karolina Baeter (bass recorder), Milana Zarić (toys, cymbal), Woo (el.guitar), Milena Pavlović (computer keyboard), Svetlana Maraš (electronics).
"59372 98324 19043 78903 95320...". The mechanized female voice drones on and on... What have you stumbled on to? Instructions to spies? Messages exchanged between drug dealers? Deliberate attempts at deception and mis-information? Chances are, all of the above! What you've tuned in to is called a "Spy Numbers Station".
They've been on the air for several decades, and only recently have the mysteries started to unfold. But there's stillmuch we don't know about these mysterious stations. (
www.spynumbers.com)
Spy Numbers Stations are shortwave radio stations that are speculated to have been broadcasting since World War I. The true origin and purpose of them are unknown.
They generally broadcast artificially generated voices reading streams of numbers, words, letters (sometimes using a spelling alphabet), tunes or Morse code. They are in a wide variety of languages and the voices are usually women's, though sometimes men's or children's voices are used. (Wikipedia)
The piece was premiered in Vilnius in 2009, by the ensemble Loos.