Gospel artist Josh Laryea has made a powerful plea for his fellow gospel musicians to stop focusing solely on songs about affluence and instead get back to writing songs about faith, redemption, and hope.
The dynamic singer and preacher, Josh Laryea who is well-known for his soul-stirring and stage-commanding hits, now feels that gospel music has become too dominated by songs that prioritize material prosperity above spiritual lessons. He claims that this change could cause the genre to lose its genuine essence and emphasis.
“We’ve lost sight of the true purpose of gospel music. It’s time to shift focus,” he told Graphic Showbiz in an interview on Tuesday, October 29. “We’ve lost sight of the true purpose of gospel music. It’s time to shift focus,” he told Graphic Showbiz in an interview on Tuesday, October 29.
Josh Laryea, who is currently the head pastor of Kharis Centre International at La in Accra, admitted that he adopted a similar musical route after being influenced by the trend.
Now, however, he assigns some of the blame to pastors, whose regular sermons about prosperity mold artists raised in the church to reflect these ideas.
“Those songs were frequently popular, luring others who were focused on using their music to offer hope and redemption to lose focus,” he told Graphic Showbiz.
“I will partly blame pastors for the shift in focus of gospel music. It is said that ‘you are what you hear’ and the outcome of what the church is doing is what is happening with gospel music now,” he said.
Pastor Josh acknowledged that he was once drawn to this trend, realising too late that his lyrics were veering away from his mission to use music to fulfil a spiritual obligation.
“I’ve been a victim myself and it took a while for me to realise I was going off course. I started to notice that the lyrics of my songs were changing. Looking back now, I have some regrets but I accept that at the time, I probably didn’t want to be a lone wolf so I followed the trend.”
“Yes, we need to be relevant, but not at the expense of our spiritual mandate. It’s time to refocus on the message since we are gradually creating a culture where people believe God’s primary concern should be the state of their bank accounts,” he said.
Pastor Josh, whose enthusiasm has been cultivated since boyhood, made his musical debut in 1992 with the song “His Resurrection Power.” With hits like “Ngboo” and “Ajoomi,” he became well-known and used music to spread the gospel while entertaining audiences with his upbeat “Jama” style.
But for the past seven years, he has been conspicuously missing from the music industry, which has led to retirement rumors.
He reassured supporters, nevertheless, that his musical career was far from done. “I still have a lot to offer in the music industry, and I’m even prepared to release a new song before the year is out.”
“I have been absent because I was building my ministry and church and we all know that the beginning of everything needs lots of time. Music demands a lot and I didn’t want divided attention that’s why I took a back seat. But I am back,” he reassured them.