Celebrated gospel artiste, Nii Okai, has debunked the assertion that gospel artistes in Ghana are not united, calling it a fallacy that ought to be disproved by the attitude of gospel artistes themselves.
He made this revelation in an exclusive interview on the Christian Entertainment Review Show with Odelia Ntiamoah on Sunny FM last Saturday.
“I don’t believe in the hype that gospel artists are not united. Mostly the problem starts when it gets to awards. But you need to put that behind you and get back to work. We are doing something but we need to show commitment and let the fruit show. Instead of responding to the hypes, we should rather come together and show our strength,” he stated.
Nii Okai also urged gospel musicians particularly emerging artistes to secure quality time for prayer in their quest to make a living out of their talent.
The “Moko be” hit maker noted that some gospel artists get carried away by the zeal to register their presence at several events and end up marring their relationship with God to the extent that sacrificing time for prayer is treated with ignorance.
“It is sometimes very annoying when ythe assertion that gospel artists are not united is a fallacy that ought to be disproved by the attitude of gospel artists among themselves.ou call the young ones to come and pray and they are giving you excuses that they have so many programmes to attend. After all the December gigs, there is the need to retreat at least in the second week of January. They don’t get paid for most of the programmes so they end up still chasing people for their monies,” he said.
Admitting that his latest “Yesu hi” album took a year to reach completion, Nii further advised his fellow musicians to exercise patience in the making of their songs in order not to compromise on quality. He charged them to ignore the strong demands on the part of their fans to get the song released and rather focus on perfecting the final product.
He further urged both rising and seasoned artists to embrace technology and remain dynamic beyond the trends in order maintain their relevance in the evolving industry.
Making reference to his personal career as an artiste, he said the application of the ideas from his Economics background has been a powerful tool for exploiting the financial opportunities embedded in his talent.
“The tickets for my album doubled as a download voucher. So once you purchase the tickets, you can easily go and download the songs. For those who did not want to download, we had special pendrives with the all the songs on them.”
“Technology has improved. We go to the studio, spend money and time because we want people to get value for money. It is not about finding the easiest way to make profit but you need to give to the people what they actually want,” he noted.
Nii Okai recently launched his sixth album, “Yesu Hi” which features Joe Mettle, Uncle Ato, Koda, Cwesi Oteng, Eugene Zuta, Ike Nanor, Kofi Karikari, Naa Mercy and other gospel icons.
The launch marked his 40th birthday and the initiation of the ‘40 hearts campaign’ which is being held under the Nii Okai’s Saving Heart Foundation (NOSHF) to support needy children plagued with heart issues.
He disclosed that the campaign has so far benefited ten souls and has targeted supporting a total of forty needy individuals to undergo a heart surgery. The ten beneficiaries, he added, were below the ages of ten and covered the ten regions of Ghana.
