Secular Artistes Performing in Church is Wrong - Goke Bajowa

 Prince Goke Bajowa is a Nigerian gospel artiste, a trumpeter, composer, writer and music director. His genre of music spans across contemporary high- life, contemporary folks and a fusion of other kinds of African music.

He plays gospel high-life with a blend of contemporary folk and African folk songs embellished in contemporary field. His songs teach morals, preach salvation with several other inspiring messages everyone needs to live a productive and a holy life.

In this interview, Goke wisely deals with controversial questions  on music industry especially as pertaining to gospel and secular music collaboration. Get ready to unravel a lot more about this gospel high-life artiste, and know his opinion on some of the questions regarding gospel and secular music. Enjoy the ride.

(Interviewed by Blessing Aduloju, Kehinde Osunrinde and Istifanus Sarki).

How did you begin music?

Well, music for me started many years back, since my childhood days. I was born in it. But then I was just doing it for the love of it because I was still a child.

How old were you as at then?

I was as young as 3. I was that young. I really loved listening to music and singing. And this continued until I got to the stage in my life where I had to decide what I want to do, you know, what to pursue as a career. I needed to choose between music and some other things. So at that point, I chose to pursue music first before any other thing. So, I took it as a profession and that’s what I’ve been doing. That has been my Main source of income.

Was that why you left mechanical engineering?

I wouldn’t say I left mechanical engineering because anything you learnt informally or by way of environment, you will still need it sometime later. Now that my music is established, I could find my way back into engineering. So, having not been in the field over the years, I may not be able to fit into that, but I could still pursue it as an entrepreneur.

I could if I have enough capital to start. I could go into production, merchandising, engineering materials, and so on. And in this present day Nigeria, you will discover that one needs at least more than one source of income.

Does that mean that there is high tendency that sooner you may not be doing only music?

I won’t be doing only music. That’s it. It’s not as though I will abandon music. I might just do it along with music. But for now, there is a level which I want to take my music to before I begin to think of something else. And I may not, depending on what circumstances the industry brings. It’s not compulsory. What is important is fulfillment.

Does anyone else in your family do music?

Well, I can’t recall anyone in my family that sings. I’ll just say I am different. My brothers can’t sing but they are good music listeners. They can point out your flaws if you make any. That’s how good they are. My mom is not a good singer. When it comes to music, she is not there. So, I’m the only one in the family that took up music. Music doesn’t really run in the family.

Are you the only one called Prince in the family?

All of us in the family are princes and princesses. It’s not just a brand name. I’m from a royal family. My grandpa was a king. My father was supposed to be king but somehow because it’s an extended family, he didn’t want to. If he had wanted to, he would have been nominated.

In fact, they actually came to him. They wanted him to be king, but he said no. He had other cousins and brothers who were interested. The present king of my town now is my uncle. He is Bajowa too.

Initially, I didn’t like to emphasis that I’m a prince. I’m simple. I just liked being called Goke Bajowa. But with time, I found out that people were having difficulty in addressing me. They don’t know whether to call me Pastor or Prof or Doctor, or Evangelist. You hear all sorts of titles. So I just adopted the name, to make it simple for everyone. 

As a gospel artiste, do you get invited to non-gospel shows, and when you do, what kind of songs do you sing?

Yes, once in a while, I get invited to occasions like weddings, birthday parties. So, what I do when I go to parties like that is that I sing songs that are in between. There are songs that could be just for relaxation or entertainment. All my songs revolve around the bible one way or the other. Maybe not directly though.

Even the songs that I have that are centered on moral, social awareness and all that, you can still trace the message back to the bible. So, I’m always conscious not to throw away the moral values. When I sing songs like that, it may not be Christian songs as it were, but you will be relaxed and entertained.

I could deviate into Christian music a little – the ones that everyone knows and accept that may not really have core messages. It is depending on what they want. But anything that goes secular, to the extreme…there are some songs that some people call love songs but when you look at their content, they are not really love songs per se.

You could call them sex suggestive, immoral songs because of the languages they use and the culture around the songs. When you watch the video, you see what message they are actually passing across. I try to avoid songs like that. It’s about norms and values.

There is a culture in every segment of the industry. In Christian music, there is a culture. And the culture is that there are some things that must be found, and some things that must not be found. Music is a life. You must live it. They will see it in you.

As a Hip Hop artiste, especially in America, your chain, jeans, T shirt must be bigger than you. You must sag, wear heavy T shirts, you must flaunt cars that your dad doesn’t have, cars that nobody has ever bought in your family. When you have a hundred naira, you must tell us you have hundred billion. You must portray yourself to be bigger than what you are. That’s the culture.

Some say when your songs don’t talk about God or Jesus, they are classified as secular, even if they are moral songs. Will you buy that?

No. you see, it’s very relative. When you classify songs, some songs could be secular, but will still have content. Take for instance, if I am invited by an organization, or I have an offer from an NGO to sing about girl child abuse, or farming as the next focus of our economy, they are not Christian topics, but they are messages.

Its secular of course, but it is not to the extreme. Now, if I have an offer to do such job, with a good pay, will I say I’m not taking it simply because I’m a gospel artiste, I can’t sing about child abuse and the likes? Even the bible encourages it one way or the other.

What about gospel artistes collaborating with secular artistes to sing?

Now, that’s another topic. It’s different. If you are collaborating with a secular artiste, what extreme of the secularity is the artiste? You have to consider the dressing, the attitude and the songs of the artiste. What’s the topic of the song you want to sing together? What do you want to achieve? 

If you are hiding under the person because of fame he or she has, then we will know you have a long way to go. If you are a gospel artiste seeking to fly on the wings of another artiste who is an extreme secular artiste, then we will know you have a wrong motif

Even if the song is positive?

Yes, even if the song is positive. Because at that point, we will come to know that the person is selling what he is not. You can’t sell what you don’t have. So, if you want to collaborate with secular artistes, let their secularity center around morals, motivation, and social awareness. Light and darkness cannot come together to present a message.

What of secular artistes being invited to perform in church?

That’s wrong. This is a church program.

What if they are singing moral songs and songs that have the name of God in it?

It is still wrong. What you look out for is the personality of the person, not just the song. Do you understand? No matter the song, they are not preaching the message.

How do you cope with stardom?

It’s awesome, and it’s hard too. The good thing about it is that when you have followers who are always commending you, you feel encouraged. But it is hard in the sense that you cannot live your life the way you want to.

Now, I need to pay my children’s school fees, I’m trying to balance things, and looking at how to cut down my expenses in some areas so as to pay my children school fees. And some of those areas to cut down include dropping my car and boarding public transportation.

It cost less, and helps save more. But if I try it, the person that might see me would have been someone that just saw me on television not long. There are many other things included. And you don’t know who is watching.

What has been the biggest platform you have performed on so far?

Well, I’ve ministered in a stadium and at government houses where top dignitaries such as chairmen, governors, Obas and others were seated.

What is your utmost goal in music?

Well, my utmost goal is to achieve whatever God wants me to achieve while I minister.

Thanks for your time sir.

Welcome

 

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