MINISTRY of Sound opened the doors of its London nightclub in 1991, at the height of the rave explosion. Granted the UK’s first 24-hour music and dance licence, it has developed into a multi- faceted, award-winning centre for dance and club culture, spreading its name through pioneering projects and aggressive — sometimes terrorist- style — marketing.
In 1993, for example, MD Mark Rodol was apprehended by police while beaming the Ministry logo on to Britain’s Houses of Parliament. The logo turned up on Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral a few days later, causing a righteous stir.
Ministry of Sound pioneered the idea of the “club tour” in 1992 when its DJs toured Europe, the US and Asia, playing in venues with sound and lighting quality comparable to that at the Ministry’s home base. Its 1995 tour culminated in Britain’s largest- ever indoor party. Ten thousand people pitched up at Wembley Stadium to hear some of the world’s legendary vinyl jocks, including David Morales, Frankie Knuckles and Tony Humphries. For this, Minstry of Sound won its second Disco International Event of the Year prize at the International Dance Awards. More recently it was named Best Club 1996.
It’s not often we get this kind of quality popping into town. Ministry of Sound set up camp at Lanseria this weekend and about 8 000 people are expected at a party featuring a 120KW sound system and top international and local DJs. Other promised goodies are lasers on par with those used at Disneyland, video walls and a 3D surround-sound cinema.
The venture is headed by Global Dance Initiative, previously involved in the Close Encounters rave at the Top Star drive-in, who approached Ministry of Sound to back the project. Although it is being locally co-ordinated, the party will run to strict production specifications.
Certainly, Ministry of Sound has a vision. In 1993 it launched its record label with the first Ministry of Sound Sessions CD. Mixed by Tony Humphries, the compilation sold 65 000 copies, and helped Ministry of Sound Recordings become Britain’s largest independent dance label. And it recently acquired the talents of Radio One DJ Pete Tong and ex-Culture Club frontman Boy George to mix its Annual and Dance Wars CDs in deals reputed to be worth over R1,5- million. It also owns the largest club fashion label in the world, coming here soon.
Resident Ministry DJ Jim Masters and Danish-born Kjeld Tolstrup head Saturday’s line-up — which also includes local heroes Stuart, Alan and Digital Nomad. Both visiting DJs tour extensively, and Masters runs the Ministry-linked Open Records. The label’s catalogue boasts such dance music luminaries as Carl Craig, Francois Kevorkian and Cajmere, the best of whom are represented on An Open Minded Collection. True to its name, this double-disc compilation features diverse sounds and styles — from jazzy, laid-back house to banging techno. Tolstrup was resident at Denmark’s first regular house club, Klub Fisk, and his single One-Eyed Jacks Falling, a dance version of the Twin Peaks theme, was a hit across Europe.
Global Dance Initiative member and local spokesman for Ministry Michael Farah expects further parties with different DJs in the future (Carl Cox and CJ Macintosh are good possibilities), and plans for a Ministry of Sound club are in the pipeline. Farah feels the party scene in Johannesburg is being spoiled by organisers who seldom deliver the lavish promises on their flyers, and by party-goers who simply take whatever they get. But does our nightlife need this kind of global infiltration? A stunning, state-of-the-art production, he says, can’t do any harm.
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