Many Christians don’t support gospel musicians –Odutayo

Many Christians don’t support gospel musicians –Odutayo

Odutayo

Singer Busayo Odutayo, aka Bussy Crown, will like to be addressed as a music evangelist and not just as a musician. The alumnus of the University of Benin claims that after leaving the university, he received a divine call to serve as a minister of the gospel through music.

“By the special grace of God, I was called to make music for Christ. Even some people around me, including anointed men of God,  revealed it to me. When I was convinced that this was what God planned for me, I had to attend a music school to receive formal training in the art. Right now, I am not just a performing musician, I also have a certificate in music,” he says.

After he had learnt the rudiments of music, Bussy was very eager to prove himself. The next thing he did was appear in a few high-profile gospel music concerts around the country.

Just like most debutants, he had wanted to create a style of his own from the outset – something that would ultimately set him apart from other gospel artistes. To achieve this, he had to worry about what messages to pass on to his audience.

“I felt that if I had to impact positively on the lives of people, Christians and non-Christians alike, the message had to be right,” he says.

Bussy actually belongs to the class of musicians who think that music should not exist for the sake of entertainment. As a gospel artiste, he believes it should be balanced with the right messages.

He says, “There is no point in playing music just for the sake of it. There should be a difference, especially if the style is gospel music. And to make a difference, a gospel music artiste has to work two times as hard as a secular musician. It is not enough to entertain your audience; your music should be able to make them better Christians.”

Creating real ‘food for the soul’, as he calls it, was what the singer eventually set out to achieve when he settled down to a career in gospel music.

Explaining what makes gospel music different from other music genres, Bussy continues, “Every other kind of music, except gospel, focuses on making the listeners to dance. There is very little emphasis on message. But gospel music is not like that. Ideally when people, especially worldly people, listen to real gospel music, they should feel a strong urge to turn away from sin. If the music is right, it should inspire them to question the way they have been living. Only gospel music has the power to ignite such feelings and this is what makes it different from other styles.”

Although Bussy has recorded three albums till date, none of them has been financially successful. He blames this on the poor attitude of music fans to gospel music in the country.

He says the reason why most Nigerians would rather spend their money on works produced by secular musicians than buy albums released by gospel artistes is because nobody wants to be reminded about their ‘sinful’ life style.

“Many people like to dance and sing along to meaningless songs. So they prefer to spend their hard-earned cash on secular music. Nobody wants to listen to the word of God through gospel music. To them, gospel music is irritating. In fact, nowadays many people have very little tolerance for gospel music. This is why gospel music hardly sells in the market and the artistes are not as rich as secular musicians,” he says.

He thinks that even fellow Christians deserve a large chunk of the blame for not supporting and encouraging gospel musicians. “Part of the problem is that many Christians prefer secular music to gospel music. They don’t patronise gospel musicians,” he notes.