diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 779f7737085dc2ac4b3789f156d639da5fd21cf8..21da9d63b757636f7acf99aeb9430fef76c270ed 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,8 +1,32 @@
 MUSIC NEWS --- history of user-visible changes.
-Copyright (C) 2009, 2010, 2019, 2020, 2021 INCF
+Copyright (C) 2009, 2010, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 INCF
 
 Please send MUSIC bug reports to music-bugs@incf.org.
 
+
+Changes in 1.2.0:
+
+* music library
+
+** Switch from C++ to C MPI interface
+
+The MPI C++ interface has been deprecated for some time. MUSIC has now
+switched to using the MPI C interface internally and now also uses it
+in some places in the MUSIC API, for example in Setup::communicator().
+
+The switch should be backward compatible when compiling existing
+applications since objects will be implicitly type converted.
+
+** The MUSIC library version has been bumped to 1.2.0
+
+This is due to the ABI change induced by the switch to the MPI C
+interface.
+
+** The MUSIC repository is now mirrored at eBrains
+
+The MUSIC repository now uses github workflows to update a mirror at
+https://gitlab.ebrains.eu/djurfeld/MUSIC.git
+
 
 Changes in 1.1.17:
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index eea8fdf751ab236e2c095e94fc4f186ffa239403..d187707a7a9b771a10454da52707438fd1400a4e 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce configure.
-AC_INIT(music, 1.1.17)
+AC_INIT(music, 1.2.0)
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 AM_CONFIG_HEADER([config.h])
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE