Ghanaian gospel musician Josh Laryea has bemoaned the over saturation of songs that glorify material success at the expense of songs for spiritual uplift.
“We’ve lost sight of the true purpose of gospel music. It’s time to shift focus,” he told Graphic Showbiz in an interview.
Josh, who is also the head pastor of Kharis Centre International at La in Accra, said in times past, he also got swayed by songs that carried such prosperity messages.
“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,’ he said.
He therefore blamed this phenomenon on pastors for frequently delivering sermons laden with such messages instead of propagating things that will draw people closer to Christ an change their lives for the better.
“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.
Josh Laryea
Pastor Josh Laryea said because songs themed on material success get a lot of people’s attention, most gospel musicians lean towards that direction.
“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.
Josh Laryea got into the music industry in 1992 when he released his debut song, ‘His Resurrection Power’.
He is also known for songs like ‘Emmre’, ‘Ajoomi’, ‘Ngboo’, ‘Kane’ and ‘Bisa.’
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