Tag: Kenyan gospel

How Kenyan gospel became irrelevant

Posted on by Ozymandias

There was a time when Kenyan gospel was all the rage. The biggest celebrities and all the biggest stars were gospel artists. Back when J Blessing was still a godfather within Kenyan entertainment, Bahati and Willy Paul were still gospel stars, and every new Dawn brought about a new gospel artist to the fore.

Justina Syokau quiting gospel music to venture into church ministry is a business upgrade

Back then gospel was such a huge deal that you’d hear it played even in clubs. There was a time when secular music seemed to be uninspired and uncreative and as such artists who feared falling off would make the quick switch to contemporary gospel music.

The biggest DJs what was that spun final and made mixes of contemporary gospel. They had the most cloud the biggest fanbase and were often the most booked with the exception of maybe one or two secular DJs. In fact, they were so popular that most companies would hire them for events favouring them over their secular counterparts.

Daddy Owen practicing celibacy is all talk; Gospel singer is getting some action

Those days have long since died. The Kenyan gospel scene is bereft of any Talent and what we have seen is a reversal of all the games that were made previously. Most of the top acts have since switched to secular music. And it’s almost as if they took their fanbase along with them because the gospel audience has greatly diminished.

Masterpiece King proudly flaunts his sleek, brand new ride (Photos)

Why is this the case? Why did it suddenly become uncool to be associated with gospel or the ministry? Well, the biggest problem that plagued gospel in Kenya the fact that most contemporary acts are wolves in sheep clothing. Over the course of a decade, so many were unmasked and exposed that fans quickly lost faith in their role models resulting in them completely abandoning contemporary gospel artists.

‘Gospel Died’- Eric Omondi Speaks On The Gospel Music Industry (Video)

The notion was created that it was only traditional and vernacular gospel artists – you know, the type who were linked to churches the type who had come up through the Church choirs – who could be trusted.

We got to see the likes of Willy Paul the likes of DK Kwenye Beat, Mr Seed and the rest all get implicated in sex scandals. It got to a point that anyone who saw them as role models could no longer publicly identify with them.

Popular gospel artist releases timely spiritual hit that will leave you on your knees (Video)

Thus an entire generation of young congregants was lost. And we have since then not yet rebounded with regards to building back the gospel market. Is also due to the fact that churches and church leaders do not connect with the youth. There is no one to bridge the gap between the old flock and their young Gen Z youth base.

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Why the Kenyan contemporary gospel scene is struggling

Posted on by Ozymandias

The Kenyan contemporary gospel scene was once the most vibrant and active aspect of Kenyan entertainment. Its members were responsible for keeping the Kenyan sound alive and they would churn out hit after hit. This was seen in the fact that all aspiring artists, be they crooners, dancehall artists or even rappers, all of them without exception wanted to be gospel artists.
A case in point for this argument would be Boondocks Gang who first started out as gospel artists before finding their sound and deciding to embark on a Gengeton career.

So where did the rain start beating the gospel fraternity?

For starters, the lack of mentorship did not ensure that the baton was successfully passed on. DJ Mo and Size 8 did their part in trying to pass on the baton. We would see them mentor the young gospel artists but that was not enough. Sure they mentored Bahati and reached out to other artists such as Masterpiece but beyond that, most gospel artists at the zenith of their careers 3 years ago viewed the new generation as upstarts; pretenders to their throne. And so they addressed them as unworthy competition rather than brothers and sisters in Christ.

Former gospel star Willy Paul
Willy Paul

An affinity for the secular world. This means that most young gospel artists were at a crossroad. They wanted to be cool but they still wanted to get into the ministry. With no one to guide them through this crisis of faith, they veered more and more into the secular world. When you look at acts like Willy Paul, it was clear for all to see his struggles. But rather than reaching out to him, most pastors berated him and used him as a negative role model for the youth in their flock.

Why is the Kenyan gospel industry such a mess?

Scandals rocked the gospel scene from the head down to the tail. Pastors like Ng’ang’a were constantly embroiled in one scandal or another. The choirmasters were the same as were the flock. So young kids growing up in the church were put off by what they saw. The rule given to them was, “Rules for thee, none for me!” and they rebelled against this hypocrisy.

Are Kenyan gospel musicians asleep?

Lack of embracing new ideas has always been something that has pitted the church at odds with the youth. No, here we are not addressing embracing ideas explicitly banned by the Bible but rather ideas of fashion, song genres and ultimately language. Police a man’s language and you police his thoughts. Embrace and guide his language and you embrace and guide his thoughts. Kids also want to be cool. And fashion is an outward expression of this. As for genres, Gengeton could very well have been an offshoot of urban gospel.

Of course, there were some factors outside of the church and gospel fraternity’s control but what they chose to ignore ultimately undid the gospel music dominance in Kenya.

 

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Guardian Angel takes the gospel higher with ‘Tawala’

Posted on by Catherine Nderitu

Guardian Angel is still preaching the gospel as he welcomes a new tune Tawala. This comes a few weeks after his last hit Nibariki.

Like I keep saying he is the only sane gospel artiste who is taking the industry to the next level. His songs have said so well. In Tawala he is asking God to take control and he says that we all run to Christ for shield.

He is not only using English but has used a foreign language. This man is just talented and if this is what we will keep on listening to, he needs to be releasing a song on a weekly basis.

Guardian Angel takes the gospel higher with 'Tawala'

He asks God to take control in Tawala

Ee Baba chukua control to surrender kwako. To add on, Guardian Angel keeps giving hope to Kenyans and the Christian community at large.

In addition to the great voice, there was a super team behind Guardian Angels Tawala song. The audio was produced by Teddy B a super producer in the Kenyan music scene.

Guardian Angel has a voice that will pull you to his songs. In Tawala he says he has left God to take control and am sure this is what most Kenyans are looking for.

Guardian Angel takes the gospel higher with 'Tawala'

Tawala is a well-produced song.  The beats and sound have been well mastered. But we all know that Guardian Angel even on live performances does better. He knows which buttons to click.

Despite the fact that he used to do covers, Guardian Angel has climbed the ladder. Also, it is right to say he is the only gospel artiste who knows what he wants. This has been confirmed by the powerful message in the Tawala song. It comes at a time when people need to here a strong message.

In conclusion, Guardian Angel on the Tawala song gets a rating of 8/10.

Video below.

Akothee: Kenyan gospel industry is full of pretenders

Posted on by Pauline Syombua

Singer Akothee is a controversy queen. It’s like everyday Kenyans wake up to find an eyebrow-raising post on her social media platforms.

She recently took to her platform to share how the gospel industry is fake saying that most of the artists focusing on the genre are pretenders. It’s not a new thing to see gospel singers finding themselves in ungodly controversies.

Couldn’t do gospel music

Akothee also shared some rather surprising history about her career in the post stating that she started out as a gospel singer but switched back to secular because of the fakes.

 “People reminding me of church Am I the one holding the church key ? Don’t you know that I was the best soloist in my church ! Do you know that the church choir would feel empty in my absence? & the day I miss church everyone would know that mama vesha was not in church today! Do you know why I stopped gospel and went secular?” she said in her Instagram post. 

 

“It’s because I could not keep up with the hypocrisy, the moment I got divorced , the entire church members I knew, family friends etc , turned their back on me, none of them or their wives wanted to associate with me ! Preachers used my family status as an example to preach in church !gave me all kinds of names because they heard the story from one side ! No one wanted to associate with me ! Rejection is poisonous , that’s why most people mistake my attitude towards life for arrogance ????, Mimi ni msabato, sijabeba kifunguu ya kanisa yenyu wewe enda church ongea na Mungu wako, hatakuuliza dhambi zangu.”

She added:

“The world shaped me this away ??, don’t come to my wall expecting me to correct or raise your children for you ? I was raised without internet but I still messed up , don’t hung your children’s misbehaviours on celebrities, we won’t stop living our lives just because of the name Role model ! Unfollow anything that is not inspiring ! The button is right on your finger ☝if you can’t keep up unfollow pap , if you are addicted accept and embrace , if you are jealous get something better to do with your life we also have healthy competition! E.g. competing with the you yesterday. ???”