Gospel Music and Environs Is In A Sham – Olumati Isaiah

After church Sunday, I spent some time with family Oyemwen Oyegun and Simon Oghenevwaire Omamor. Simon was my course mate and we shared same matric number series, hence he was always close any time we had to sit following our matric number. We both graduated from the University of Port Harcourt and we read GEOLOGY.
We all talked about music. I am not sure how this happens but somehow I get to discuss music with a lot of people. We shared deep things, analysing music, it's place in the church and the reaction of the church toward music.

We considered in quick succession;

1. The impact of slavery on the African church and it's effect on Gospel music till date.

2. The place of ministry, music as product, and marketing.

3. The power of church leadership, the value of their endorsement and what it could mean for society, artiste value and revenue generation.

4. Song writing, the art, and needed skill, taking practical examples from the writing skills as presented in the song of Solomon.

5. The lack of appreciation for extreme uniqueness in gospel music.

6.Consumer behaviour and building the music.

7. The African sound in contrast to the Western sound.

And many more.

Somewhere in all of these I was asked the big question.

"So with all of this going on, what did you do with GEOLOGY?"

That made me smile a bit. This is not the first time I have been asked this same question.

I responded simply "I took everything I had ever learnt in Geology and brought it into the music. It is called "applied knowledge"

I turned to my course mate and asked, "Do you remember the principle of Uniformitarianisim?"

I took a few minutes to show them it's application in the music and I saw that look in their eyes.

You see technically I practice what read at the University, just in a different light. All of life is related, our ability to see the relationship is key. Nothing is a waste except we are choosing to waste it.