Gospel Music/Word Minister and Song-Writer, Gloria Doyle also known as YeyeGospel (Mother of Gospel) in an interview revealed why people delve into gospel music.
What is Gospel Music to you?
Gospel Music is just a platform for spreading the words of God and what they stand for.
Why did you say that ‘Nikki Laoye’ should stop parading herself as a gospel artiste?
What I am just trying to say is this, as a gospel artiste, you should be able to minister. We should be able to present songs that edify the body of Christ. We should be a blessing to lives and not to entertain people. I only threw a question to ‘Nikki’ that ‘if you have an invitation to a crusade or revival, can you present or minister such songs?’ NO!!! To me, she is just like every other hip-hop artiste or a contemporary artiste, not a gospel singer or minister. That is why I said she should stop parading herself as a gospel artiste.
Literally, Gospel is the good news, what is the content of ‘Nikki’s song?
If you really want to delve into the Bible where we started from as ministers or singers, you talk about the Levites, those are the people God separated to sing his praise and minister. God separated them from the remaining tribes of Israel. If you are a Levite as a gospel artiste, you must be separated. You should not present yourself as other people are presenting themselves and that is what gospel artistes do. If you want to speak the word, speak the word, if you want to sing the word, sing about the words of God. You should be a blessing and be able to minister into people’s lives. You should be able to use your songs to edify people and not to entertain people and that is where I stand.
Don’t you think that makes you a little bit controversial?
Well, I don’t know but right from the inception of Gloria Doyle, they have always known me to be a controversial gospel artiste because I want to speak things the way they are, I want to follow the truth, I want to follow the words of God. I don’t want to follow what I see but the words of God. If you are standing as a minister or gospel artiste, you should stand according to the status and commandments of God.
I read another article where you said that gospel singers should not attend or hold any concert
No, I didn’t say gospel singers shouldn’t hold anything like concert. I said that if you are inviting me to entertain people I will not honour such invitation. But if you are calling me to minister, I will gladly honour the invite. Some people say I am talking like this because I combine ministration and singing together but I said NO. If you want me to minister, I will grace such occasion because I don’t want to come into any gathering and see people carrying chairs up and dancing to all kinds of music. I should be able to touch their situations and impact deliverance into their lives through what I do.
Definitely, that is what makes you a gospel minister, you should be able to make an impact. Wherever you are invited, whether church or any programme, the aim is to minister the words of God.
I have had a lot of invitations but I always tell them that I should know what it is all about. If it is something I can honour, I will go but if it’s not, I will ignore it. It is not all about the money. If you want to start talking about the money, you will want to be everywhere.
Tell us more about the background and style of your music
Well, I just know that I sing, I write my songs, I go to the studio and my producer says this is going to sound better as reggae, dancehall or as Hip Hop. Most of my songs are Rhythmic and African, I try to add a little bit of pidgin in order to get to the grassroots. I have passion for grassroots people.
Which of your songs will you single out as the Best?
Hmm… I have released a couple of albums and several singles but I will say my new released single titled “PRAY” is the best. I have received a lot of calls and text messages from fans and people across the country sharing their testimonies after listening to the song. I have been blessed in unique ways through the song.
Why are you called YeyeGospel?
Yeye…(smile) people call me YeyeGospel (Mother of Gospel) because of my stand in the gospel ministry and most of the time when people see me at first, they think I am just like every other person but by the time I minister and they are blessed, they just call me a mother, saying you are different, you just stand on your own.
Why do you think a lot of people are going into gospel music?
A lot of people try to achieve fame and they find out that through Hip Hop industry, they don’t really have the kind of money they need to attain that height, so they fall back into gospel music. What I just want to tell you is that whatever purpose anyone comes into Gospel, there is always a test of time. I can name names, I know of someone that started as a gospel artiste but because she felt it was slow, she delved into Hip-hop and as we speak, she is nowhere to be found. In 2007 and 2011, she was really holding grounds. If you are coming into gospel music, there must be a call on you. People are injecting secular music into their song because they don’t really know their call. They just want to do it, they just want to be there. But if you have the call of God upon your life, you should know that there is nothing that should make you toe the line of worldly things. The Bible says “you are in this world but you are not of this world”. If you are able to put that at the back of your mind, you should be able to differentiate it and say No, this is my cross line, I shouldn’t go beyond this place and I shouldn’t do beyond this.
So they do gospel music for fame, recognition and money?
Yeah, a lot of people do gospel music for fame. In those days when Don Moen was ministering, whenever he was singing or even in the church during choir ministrations, a lot of people would be touched by the Holy Spirit. I don’t even know why a lot of boys are holding Pepsi bottle in the church and they would be dancing at the end of the day. I learnt it was just a mixture of some drugs. They are under the influence of drugs and not the Holy Spirit.
How do you feel being nominated in three categories of the forthcoming Africa Gospel Awards, 2018?
I give glory to God Almighty. I feel very honoured for the nominations “Best Song of the year”, Most promising Artiste of Repute” and “Next Rated Gospel Artiste”. I appreciate the award organisers for recognizing kingdom worshippers and ministers of the Gospel.
