The thoughts of Monique Bingham about releasing Best of The Last exclusively to South Africa first:
Its so symbolic of what has happened with my career here and with house music period in South Africa. I know of no other place where a house vocalist could have a double disc best of release! That just speaks to how important house music is to this territory. And House Afrika has become a global symbol for the Mzansi house movement so I am extremely proud to join the roster.
The thoughts of Monique Bingham about her album:
For a myriad of reasons the house music genre evolved to highlight DJs. You never need a live vocalist to throw a party if you had a DJ. And this was party music. Just like its cousin hip hop it was an extension of impromptu street and club parties made by folks with few resources. It takes a lot more time and cost to have live musicians and vocalists play but a DJ needs very little. And now they need even less! The technology pushed the analogue elements into the background. Not to mention its a single driven genre. So the voices became nameless and faceless. They were usually independent unsigned artists with no PR, no videos no album projects. People love the songs but have no idea who wrote or sang them, just the name of the DJ that played it. Which is why I wanted to collect a lot of what I did over the years for The Best of The Last so people do know who I am and what I have done. Its also about refining how you say something and what you say so uniquely that the moment they hear it they know who it is. There are so many ways for independent artists to be seen and heard via social media that it is changing. And women are becoming more powerful in every aspect of the scene too. Be they DJs or promoters, club owners or label heads.
The thoughts of Monique Bingham on her upcoming Best of The Last Tours in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia:
Improvisation and unpredictability are the true magic of performance. I want to get swept away and caught up with the people I am playing with in front of an audience and have a genuine creative experience. People can feel that. Thats what I am most looking forward to on this trip.
Posted on : 2015-10-09
