Rully Shabara is an Indonesian vocalist, composer and sound artist who has spent more than two decades exploring the human voice as an autonomous creative medium and treating language as material for experimentation. His practice encompasses primal expression, improvisation, work with technology and the development of original voice-based systems. Shabara’s projects are also rooted in a critical examination of colonial frameworks and seek forms that move beyond dominant narratives.

He is best known as the vocalist of the avant-garde duo Senyawa. He is also the creator of KHAWAGAKA – a speculative language-driven system of culture and belief, the XHABARABOT VOICE MACHINES digital vocal interfaces, and RAUNG JAGAT, an improvisation-based choral system. He also co-founded KOMBO LAB, Indonesia’s first platform dedicated to free improvisation, and has served as a mentor in Berlin’s Forecast programme.

Shabara has collaborated with artists including Keiji Haino, Stephen O’Malley, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Otomo Yoshihide, Rabih Beaini, Damo Suzuki, Trevor Dunn and Justin Vernon. He has performed in independent venues such as Café OTO and UNIT Tokyo, as well as at Primavera Sound, Dark Mofo, the Sharjah Biennial and Lincoln Center. His voice has also appeared in film productions and in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2.