In this interview with KEMI YESUFU, Samsong talked about his brand of gospel music, life as a family man and the challenges of operating from Abuja.
He equally shared his opinion on the flamboyant style of modern churches and the recent sex scandal involving an Abuja Pentecostal preacher. Enjoy it:
Most popular gospel artistes are in Lagos but you did the opposite by staying put in Abuja. Why is this so?
I am married with two kids, so my family is the major reason why I have remained in Abuja. Another reason why I still live in Abuja is that, it's a serene and calm place. I am the kind of artiste that needs a quiet place to create music and a good neighborhood to raise children. And Abuja is a combination of these two important characteristics.
Abuja is fine for recording music and raising children, but how good is it for you business wise?
For artistes, living Abuja has its disadvantages, in the sense that Lagos is where opportunities come frequently. I have had people call and ask me that I drive to their churches for a performance and they get disappointed when I tell them I am in Abuja.
But I believe also that if you are good at what you do and people want your services, they will arrange for you to come meet them wherever they are. Over the years, I have been able to add value to my brand and people are ready to support me even if it means bringing me in from wherever I am. Interestingly, most of my performance deals come from clients outside Abuja. I am doing well business wise, though it might not be like what the secular artistes are getting.
You just mentioned how secular artistes are making loads of money in comparison to gospel singers. Do you get tempted to switch to secular music?
I will say that the temptation is great for gospel musicians to shift to secular music. But for me, music goes beyond just recording songs and performing shows. If you ask me, music is a spiritual phenomenon in the sense that the message in my songs has to come from within. I have remained a gospel artiste because of this conviction.
I believe strongly that I am on the right path with singing gospel. I feel even more confident now because the light is brighter for gospel artistes. Compared to when I started, the gospel artiste now has a wider audience to listen to his music. I believe that I can do much better moving into the future. I am born-again and I want that to reflect in my music.
How did you get the idea for your hit song, Bia Nule?
It is quite interesting how I got the idea for that song. I call Bia Nule my spirit song because it came to me while I was driving and I started singing it though I am not fluent in Igbo language. I stopped my car and recorded the song on my handset.
Even after I recorded it on my phone, I kept wondering how an Igbo song came to me just like that. I wondered what I would do with the song, I contemplated giving the idea for the song to someone else, I thought of giving it to an Igbo speaking artiste.
This is despite the fact that other gospel artiste friends like Asu Ekiye and Sammy Okposo had told me that my voice would be great on songs rendered in a Nigerian language. I used to tell them that I preferred to stick with contemporary gospel.
Even when I decided to keep the song for myself, I recorded the first version of Bia Nule with the chorus people and placed it at the end of the track. It was my manager who advised me to make Bia Nule the main chorus. In fact, there are four remix versions of Bia Nule. It is the fourth version that most people know.
A number of people see the elegant stallion, Onyeka Onwenu as a tough woman. How was it like working with her on the One Love remix?
It was interesting working with Onyeka Onwenu. For me, she is the easiest person to work with. I connected with her in an interesting manner that shows that she isn't a difficult person. She was at a show in which she had to perform One Love. She had just completed a rigorous political tour, she was a bit tired and when she started singing the chorus for One Love, I just felt that I should join her and give her support.
The organizers gave me a microphone and when she had done her part, I did a freestyle verse and went back to the One Love chorus. On my way back to my seat, she stopped me to say, she would like to do a remix of the song with me. I followed up and we went to the studio together to record the song. When it was time to make the video for the song, she did it without much ado. So, I am yet to see that difficult side of Onyeka Onwenu some people claim exists.
Some critics aren't happy with the funkiness of today's gospel music. They have argued that gospel musicians are trying too hard to get into the mainstream. What is your opinion?
In terms of beats, lyrics and style, I will say gospel musicians aren't doing badly. Like you mentioned, there are some gospel videos that compromise the essence of the genre. These videos contain scenes that shouldn't be in gospel videos, like scantily clad women and suggestive dance steps. I don't subscribe to gospel music or videos that make people question the artiste's motive.
I also don't subscribe to using beats of secular songs to make gospel music. But then, I am a sucker for excellence, so I understand those who have tried to take gospel from the realm of being boring to a place where you have DJs who play strictly gospel music.
With well-packaged gospel tracks, more young people are listening to gospel music. Rather than allowing our younger ones to be swayed into the nightclubs, we should make songs with good beats and Biblically backed lyrics that will at the same time, appeal to the church people.
Still talking about funky Christianity, a popular Pentecostal pastor in Abuja was enmeshed in sex scandal. Two women accused him of being a philanderer. And some observers have blamed the Hollywood style of certain congregations for such a scandal and similar happenings in the church. What is your opinion?
I don't think what you described has anything to do with modern or old time religion kind of Christianity. These problems don't arise due a church's style of Christianity. I think we should localise the problem to the person(s) involved. There are many funky pastors out there, who are principled. It is not about old fashioned or modern pastors because there are old school preachers who have had similar problems too. To avoid problems, a pastor just has to stand by tested values and principles.
When a secular artiste is on stage, he simply has to entertain the audience. How is it in the case of the gospel singer? Does he/she have to minister and entertain at the same time?
You know, the gospel is the good news. In the same vein, the gospel artiste is the propagator of the good news. More than the physical, gospel music is about the spiritual. In the midst of the singing and dancing, there must be the move to recognize the presence of God. When a secular musician is on stage entertaining, it is not about God.
That is the difference between gospel musicians and their secular counterparts. For me, it is not a challenge to entertain and minister the word at the same time. There are even some pastors who are quite interesting; their preaching makes you laugh; yet they get the word across to the congregation.
The decision to make music a career, was it an easy one?
It wasn't easy at all. I left the banking industry to do gospel full time. It was challenging in the beginning. Family and friends couldn't understand why I left the bank for gospel music. There was a guy who asked me to show him a gospel artiste who was doing well financially. At that time, I couldn't point to anyone.
So, I just took a plunge. I thought in my mind that I might as well be a trailblazer and inspire the people who will come behind me. It was tough starting out. I remember trekking to churches to create work for myself after leaving the bank. I used to live in Iwaya in Lagos and I would trek from home to Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, looking for churches where I could perform.
I would look at their signboards for their visiting time and I would note in down. I would return to those churches to speak to the pastors. Some of them let me in and others said that their services were tight and they can't accommodate me. It wasn't all of the churches I performed that the pastors gave me money. Sometimes I trekked home. But after I managed to record a CD, I always had money for transportation because I would sell my CDs. Today, I thank God that I made that decision.
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