GOSPEL MUSIC AS AN EVANGELIZATION MEDIUM

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'He who sings well prays twice' said St. Augustine many centuries ago. Music ia a universal language which cut across age, sex, race and nationality. Sing a lullaby to a crying baby and watch how he would stop crying, then start smiling at you and soon falls asleep. Mothers can attest to this fact.

Good music played and sung from the heart moves God, the creator of the whole universe! Read 2 Chronicles, chapter 5 verses 12 to 14 of the holy bible and see the power of music. There lies the proof that good music offered in praise to God brings down God's glory.

If music moves God and man, it is then a very efficient way of communication between the two. Therefore the word of God set in musical form will go a long way in touching people's heart, even more than the verbal preaching. Preach the word of God to a downcast man, he may or may not be disposed to listen to you, but set the same message into beautiful music and play it to the hearing of the same man and you will be surprised to see him consciously or unconsciously savouring the tune by nodding or stamping of the feet or even by singing along! What a wonderful way of bringing a downcast soul to God.

A jailer was saved and converted with his household because his prisoners, Paul and Silas, prayed and sang praises to God whose glory came down and shook the foundations of the prison and liberated the prisoners(read Acts 15:25-34).

Perhaps you may have wondered why churches and crusade organizers spend so much money on musical groups such as choirs,bands and orchestra. It is because they understand that the best way to reach human soul is through music. Incidentally, that is also the best way to reach God. If this is so, then Gospel music is an inevitable medium to spread the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ as he has commanded us to do in the bible(Matthew 28:19-20).

Are you a gospel musician, singer or gospel artist? Be encouraged because you are doing a wonderful work of an evangelist. Are you in any way involved in the promotion of gospel music? Do not despair because you are already a part of that Great Commission or rather the Supreme Commission as Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke of Christ For All Nations use to call it.

Remain blessed in Christ Jesus!

EVOLUTION OF POP MUSIC IN NIGERIA

There was an influx of western popular music genres such as rock, rhthym and blues, funk, soul, country and disco into Nigeria in the 1960s. These musical styles appealed to the youth and the young musicians started to create their own music along these European and American pop styles. The result of this musical adventure was the development of a fusion called Afro Pop, which became a commercial success because of the variety of sound and dancable tunes it offered the Nigerian music lovers.
Bongos Ikwue brazed the trail with his band 'The Groovies' and churned out some hits in the early 1970s such as 'I'm Still Searching' 'What's Gonna Be Is Gonna Be', 'Amen' and 'Cock Crow At Dawn' which was originally a sound track for Nigerian Television Authority's popular soap 'Cock Crow At Dawn'.
Bunny Mark, a bubbling young artiste stormed the Nigerian music scene with his hit track 'My Sweetie' in an album released on Tabansi Record label, which sold platinum in the mid 1970s. Other artistes such as Tony Gray and William Onyeabor also made great impact in the pop scene about this time. Some groups such as 'The Funkies', 'The Doves', 'Blo', and 'Cloud 7' all recorded hit afro pop albums in the 1970s.
In 1978 Chris Okotie, a university undergraduate took the Nigerian pop scene by a storm with his chart buster 'I Need Someone'. This album with its up-tempo beats was produced by Odion Iruoje and released on Phonodisc Record label, it was very successful in the market. Some other young artistes followed suit with this up-tempo style of afro pop and also made some hits, notable amongs them was Jide Obi who was Chris' roomate at the university. Jide Obi's two albums 'Kill Me With Love' and 'Front Page News' which were released on Tabansi Record label were national hits.
Other young artistes continued to experiment on afro pop and in 1981 Felix Liberty came up with a super hit album titled 'Lover Boy' which was produced by the late ace producer Jake Solo and released on Tabansi Record label. Chris Mba another afro pop star released his hit album 'Baby Don't Cry' on Rogers All Stars Record. Dizzy k. Falola,was another afro pop star who set the Nigerian dance halls aglow with his super hit 'Baby Kilode' released on EMI Record label in early 1980s.
There were also some female afro pop stars whose hit songs made great impact in the 1970s and 1980s pop scene in Nigeria.These include Christie Essien Igbokwe with a many hit songs including'Seun Rere', Oby Ifordu, Onyeka Onwenu with a super hit 'One Love', Oby Onyioha with a hit song 'Break It'. Stella Monye and Laurine Okotie also did some hit albums. Charlie Boy, Mike Okri, Alex O and the late Tina Onwudiwe also made some impacts in the Nigerian pop scene especially in the late 1980s.
To be continued.

Emeka E. Okeke

Gospel Music In Nigeria.

Gospel music as it is played and recorded today in Nigeria cannot be called a particular music genre because it cut across different musical styles. The only unifying thing is the lyrics,which is based on the bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ. In other words,we have highlife gospel,Afro gospel,Juju gospel,Reggae gospel,Jazz gospel etc.
The origin of commercial gospel music recording in Nigeria could be traced to the city of Aba in the south eastern Nigeria,where numerous gospel artistes and bands were recording and selling their records by themselves. Some of these records were hits, but because of the unprofessional way they were packaged the artistes were not popular but their songs were known and sung in the churches. This problem of poor identification of the gospel artistes still persists today, especially in Aba/Onitsha axis of the country.
By the mid 1970s some singing groups such as the Agape Band and the Voice Of The Cross became very popular at the national level. The Voice Of The Cross album 'Satan Is In Trouble' released on Polygram Records label was a commercial success. In the mid 1980s there were some gospel artistes that recorded hit albums,these included Patty Obasi and Laurine Okotie.
In 1992, a former liberation singer Sonny Okosun stormed the Nigerian music scene with a gospel album titled 'Songs Of Praise' and followed up with another one titled 'Songs Of Praise II'. These albums relased on Ivory Music label were commercial successes and their highly dancable tunes and catchy choruses appealed to the Nigerian music lovers irrespective of their religious inclinations and affliations. This style of gospel music became so popular that countless number of artistes jumped into gospel music and with the proliferation of churches in the country there is currently a boom in the gospel music industry in Nigeria.

Emeka E. Okeke

REGGAE MUSIC IN NIGERIA.

Reggae music was imported to Nigeria from Jamica. It has its roots in the ska music genre of the Caribbean Islands. By early 1970s Jamican reggae music and its associated rastafari ideology started to flood the Nigerian shores via the recordings of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Max Romeo, U-Roy, Black Uhuru, Eric Donalson, Soya Spence and others.
These Jamican artistes were philosophical in their lyrics and their messages range from the emancipation of the black race, love, to man inhumanity to man,especially the apartheid system then practised in South Africa. This endeared them to the hearts of Nigerian music lovers.
The influence of reggae music became so enormous that some Nigerian artistes started to record reggae albums. Sonny Okosun's hit album 'Fire In Soweto' which was a collaboration with a Jamican musician Eddy Grant was released by EMI Records in the mid 1970s. This album was so successful that it opened the gate for Nigerian artistes to rush into reggae music.
By the early 1980s, Tera Kota's album 'Lamentation For Sodom' released on Twilight Records label became a big hit and won him an award in far away United States Of America. A reggae group called 'SWEAT' came up with a hit album 'Taxi Driver' which was actually a reggae version of Bobby Benson's highlife hit song.
Evi Edna Ogholi then came up with a debut titled 'My Kind O f Music' and it was a smash hit. Orits Wilikki's albums 'Coleman Revolutionaire' and 'Conqueror' were all hits. Another group called 'MANDATORS' also recorded two hit albums 'Crisis' and 'Rat Race' all released on Polygram Records. Ras Kimono's two albums released on Polygram Records were big hits.
However, the biggest Nigerian reggae hit came in 1987 when Tabansi Records released Majek Fashek's album 'Prisoner Of Conscience' which included a smash hit track 'Send Down The Rain'. This song became a sort of national anthem in Nigeria then and brought great fame and fortune to this ex-Jastix Band guitarist.
There were other reggae artistes who made some impact in the 1980s though they had only few recordings to thier credits, these include Andy Shoreman, Isaac Black, Oby Nwankwo and Alex Zito.
By early 1990s, root reggae started to give way for a new reggae style called ragga. Daniel Wilson brazed the trail with his hit album 'Mr. Raggamuffin' released on Ivory Music label. Bkacky followed suit with his debut album 'About Time' released on Premier Music label and it was a hit. A score of other artistes followed suit and by mid 1990s Daddy Showkey and Baba Frayo both of who grew up in a Lagos slum called Ajegunle brought new innovations into the Nigerian reggae music by adding some Nigerian cultural rhthym to it.
The efforts of Baba Frayo and Daddy Showkey yielded good fruit as 'Denge Pose' an album by Baba Frayo released on Ifinity Merchant label became a super hit and a slang used in most cities of Nigeria. On the other hand, Daddy Showkey's second album 'My Name' released on Felin Records label was very successful and the hit track 'Diana' became a household song in both urban and rural areas of Nigeria.
To be continued later.

Emeka E. Okeke

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10 Secrets To Good Song Writing.

1. Decide what purpose you want to fulfil by the songs you intend to write. e.g. Is it for commercial purposes via professional recording? Or is it for religious and cultural purposes?

2. Seek for inspirations from other people's works. e.g. from song books and recorded music.

3. Learn the rules of song writing: Different types of music have different styles e.g. gospel songs are based on the teachings of the holy bible.

4. Be sure you know the difference between a verse and a chorus. e.g. a chorus should be memorable to catch the fancy your listeners.

5. Arrange your songs properly so that everything when heard once will show a clear sequence.

6. Be original and avoid copying other people's songs. Once you copy from others your listeners would know.

7. Listen regularly to the FM radio stations in your locality to hear the current styles of music.

8. Seek for advice from the professionals such as music producers,choirmasters,sound engineers and professional song writers.

9. Don't just be satisfied with your first or second drafts but cancel and rewrite many times to get a good result. The hit songs you hear on radio took the song writers several weeks to get the final drafts.

10.Collaborate with other song writers, that is, find a partner who has skills in the areas you don't have and join with him/her to write some songs.

Good Luck.

Emeka E. Okeke