ONE OF the top local gospel artists, Winnie Mashaba has good news for her fans. She has a new album and DVD which she believes fans will fall in love with. Titled The Very Best Of Winnie Mashaba, the double CD and DVD was filmed in Pretoria at the State Theatre.
“It had been five years since I last recorded a live DVD and so, I felt the pressure to do so for my fans. I wanted to give them all their favourite songs from Winnie Mashaba,” said the powerful vocalist.
She admitted that while she had her own favourite tracks which she would have wanted to see on the project, she let the fans choose what they wanted to hear.
“We did some research through social networks including Facebook and Twitter in order to find out which classics the people loved from the previous projects,” she said.
With 12 studio albums under her belt, Mashaba had a lot for the fans to choose from. She agreed with the choices they made.
“As artists we always have our own ideas on which songs are the best out of any given project. I thought after giving the fans the choice to select what they liked, perhaps we would not agree with what they wanted but I agree 100 percent with the songs they chose.”
With hits like Bophelo ke Leeto and Hayo Mathata, the 27-track project takes fans as far back as when Mashaba started her career.
While she was happy with the CD, recording the DVD was a bit apprehensive because of a bad experience. “A few years ago, we launched the first DVD project and, unfortunately, it did not go far because I did not know much about the music.
“I had some of my vocals muted and we did not have a proper audio-mixer person.
“When we finally got one, he came very late and the show was almost over. It was a disaster,” she said. Considering that as a lesson learnt, Mashaba rose from that disappointment to launch this project which includes the best track to date.
“I am glad that Universal is helping me out this time and so we had a lot people come through to help us out. We had a few youngsters on the show who fiddled with the mixer here and there but it wasn’t too much to spoil anything. They were shadowing professionals so that helped a lot.”
Now that the album and DVD are out, Mashaba is getting ready to go on a nationwide tour to promote it. “We want people to hear the music live and get a chance to purchase the product from us,” she said.
• The Very Best Of Winnie Mashaba is available in music stores nationwide.