THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL MUSIC FROM MAINSTREAM MEDIA– The impasse for broadcasters and Contemporary Gospel artistes

‘..I was here several years ago when songs from Sammy Okposo dominated mainstream airwaves. It was not long ago when Folake Omosen’s ‘Ko so ba bi re’ produced by Wole Oni held radio stations spellbound. The group Infinity sent the whole industry into frenzy with their song ‘Olori Oko...’ – @sesanadeniji

If you are a music fanatic and have followed the various genres of music
broadcast in Nigeria for over twenty years now, you will agree with me that
just as dinosaurs have vanished from the face of the earth, contemporary
gospel music has disappeared on prime time on mainstream radio and
television. The extinction of this music genre is both as a result of the
lack of push or creativity from contemporary gospel artistes to produce
songs that could compete with the evolving tempo of the sounds in today’s
industry without contaminating their content/messages, and as well the
myopic mindset of new generation broadcasters. This dilemma for both
broadcasters and artistes is relegating inspirational and contemporary
gospel music to just 6am-2pm on Sundays only. This was never the way it was
back in the days.

I was here several years ago when songs from Sammy Okposo dominated
mainstream airwaves. He also performed as one of the major artistes during
the major awards nights. It was not long ago when Folake Omosen’s ‘Ko so ba
bi re’ produced by Wole Oni held radio stations spellbound. This song also
got nominated for Kora Awards. The group Infinity sent the whole industry
into frenzy with their song ‘Olori Oko.’  The video was epic; it stayed at
the top of most music charts for weeks. Midnight Crew’s ‘Igwe’ caught on
like wildfire.  Nosa’s ‘I Go Always Pray for You’ was every OAP’s delight.
Prior to these, we also had the exploits made by the group ‘Roof Top MCs.’
The creativity on their songs introduced us to the music production skills
of Cohbams. In that same space we had femcees like B.O.U.Q.U.I, the
sensational Eben, enigmatic Nikki Laoye, vocal powerhouse Samsong to name a
few. How come these contemporary gospel artistes had content that competed
in mainstream media back then?

The answer is simply, back in those days, these set of artistes seemed to
have unwittingly done things right. They did not act like gospel ministers
with a penchant for only low tempo tunes for praise and worship; instead,
they permeated mainstream media with motivational, inspirational,
danceable, fast and high-octane songs that are irresistible. They also
acted like every day artistes that understand the importance of promotions
and PR. But most importantly back then; the industry had OAPs that
possessed a deeper understanding of their industry; OAPs who were ready to
support all good music. From the moment contemporary gospel artistes
relaxed on doing things right or maybe became tired of pushing because of
discouragement from broadcasters that fail to do things right by not
encouraging these artistes, contemporary gospel music disappeared from
prime time on mainstream despite the existence of heavyweights like Frank
Edward, Nathaniel, Nosa, Lara George, Tope Alabi and Nikki Laoye in the
system today.  Even the major music awards have failed to commend the
success of these guys.

– words by Sesan Adeniji

Culled from Mystreetz magazine( Blackmagic edition )