[dentifier] K2026-011

For Tracks, Oussama Tabti collected around ten second-hand site radios from Brussels' Vossenplein and via online sales platforms. These robust devices bear visible signs of wear and tear, a testament to their previous lives. Indispensable in the office and on the work floor, they provide music, distraction and a sense of connection while working. For many people from migrant backgrounds, music and song also form a bridge to family, memories and the languages of home.

The radios play a cappella voices from a wide variety of workers, from physiotherapists and administrative staff to IT specialists and kitchen porters, whom Tabti recorded in their homes or in his studio. They sing in Arabic, Spanish, Ashanti, Kabyle, Italian and Salento, a dialect from Apulia. The songs range from lullabies and work songs to religious music, folk songs and love songs.

With Tracks, Tabti pays tribute to the rich tradition of work songs and to everyone who contributes to a country's economy. In Brussels, and almost anywhere else in the world, a workplace without workers from migrant backgrounds is hardly conceivable. The different nationalities, languages and cultures literally form the foundations of new and renovated buildings, including that of Kanal.