“I was learning about my body through music, while others were learning about music through their bodies.” These words, taken from the documentary film Monk in Pieces, encapsulate the American singer-performer’s most intimate relationship with her art. For nearly six decades, Monk has pursued an arduous yet profoundly rewarding path, revolutionising the meaning of the human voice in relation to music and bodily movement, whether in song, linguistic expression or guttural sound. No other artist has reached the extreme, sublime level of formal achievement that Monk has attained. The statement refers to her formative years at dance and singing school, when the young Meredith began to grasp her identity as a “performing artist” – a woman capable of conveying a subliminal projection of bodily vibrations through movement, voice and the appropriation of space, engaging the audience even unconsciously. It is clear that we are in the presence of an extraordinary […]