Rose Bonica makes the kind of music that verberates in your cells – it’s visceral, unpredictable and a raw representation of her viewpoint, formed from her thoughts, feelings (sometimes intense) and experiences. In 2017, Rose took the plunge to create this channel for her expression; leaning on friends and Google to prepare her with the skill to create. With a strong name behind her now, one album and many EPs – Rose is here, fully manifested in the pursuit of her craft. Self-teaching of any kind requires a simultaneous grit and patience; when it is most uncomfortable or challenging, leaning into the knowing that what we want to make needs to be heard or seen is perhaps the only remedy. This attitude, contrasted against a male dominated playing field, is what I feel makes women & femme-identifying people critically powerful perspectives in music. While mechanistic perfection and theory certainly makes for great sound  – it is the playful, intuitive and curious arrangements we hear coming from women in the game that delights and intrigues. Unfortunately, everything we do as women and LGBTQI+ people is in many cases political – in a patriarchal world, the very act of just being ourselves without restraint is a “statement”. Hopefully, this will change, but for now – creative gardens like the one Rose tends for herself and her community are pathways to liberation; a commitment to saying what the fuck needs to be said.

“When I first decided to truly pursue music, it took me a long time to figure out how I needed a kick drum to sound. In many ways it’s the foundation of developing one’s sound – so it’s always evolving – but I think those periods of isolating and learning are really initiatory for any creative. The frustration allowed me to open up to my own perspective – I quickly realized I wasn’t going to make music that was palatable, that was not why I wanted to do this. There is a lot of great music in the world that is easily digestible and understood – but just who I am, informed by my experiences and sensitivity as a person – anything I produce is a reflection of my inner process, and I finally found a way to allow that to spill out.” Rose muses, looking back at the last five years of ardent trials to arrive at where she is today. It’s fascinating for any person to wake up one day and be further down the line than what was previously imagined, and for creatives, this retrospection is often tempered by bodies of work that visually show this movement through space and time. Everything Rose does as an artist relays that sort of reflective honesty, with contemplative track titles like “Mouthful of Concrete”, “Send Forgiveness / Disengage” or “I Have No Words Left” coupled with her masterful animations that appear to form and dissolve shows Rose’s grasp of how temperamental life is – this we know given the pandemic, in which all sense of certainty had to be abandoned. 

Anchoring each other in the storm of existence, Rose is recently engaged to her partner and fellow musician, Deep Aztec, marking the formation of a real beautiful union in Cape Town, and the world at large. On this, she says, “We got engaged on New Year’s Day – still reeling from the night before. We nurture each other and play each other’s roadies when the other one plays. It’s really a wild and precious thing as an artist to have another artist, especially of the same medium, reflect back to you a sense of assurance and safety – the confirmation of the necessity of what the other one is creating. In a competitive landscape, knowing we support each other ‘til the end is a huge source of encouragement.’’

Heading further into 2022, Rose is set to be a part of the growth of ​representation in the music industry, an intrinsic part of her vision as an artist. “I’m very proud to be part of the leadership committee of the shesaidso South Africa chapter, which brings me opportunities like the shesaid.so SA x Reform Radio x Rose Bonica Music Production and Online Radio Training Programme funded by British Council. We are focused on assisting women and LGBTQIA+ artists in underserved communities in the Western Cape with the necessary tools to further their careers. I am really grateful to my mentor and friend, Ang Weickl, for driving this to take place.” The program ties back to Rose’s label, Rose Are Red, a safe space for exploration and risk-taking; “Roses Are Red has been a blessing and feels like a fresh start for who I am as an artist and who surrounds me within a community. I want Roses Are Red to be a place where you share without the feeling of being robbed or taken advantage of and I think (I hope) that’s where it’s going.”

Sowing the seeds and pruning back the bullshit, Rose is nurturing a garden that welcomes everyone with good intentions – and this is the kind of world we want to live in, where voices and viewpoints are all growing together; organic and diverse. 

Applications are now open for shesaidso South Africa, you can find out more about it here: https://shesaidsosa.work/ssssa-reform-radio-rose-bonica-grant/

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton