A group of young artists have recently teamed up to raise a 1,000-member choir to promote Christ and contribute to the nation’s economy, thereby making a history in Christian gospel music.
The enlistment for this program was put together by 5th dimension entertainment which began with their maiden edition of the Gospel Music Auditions in Lagos weekend.
Speaking during the audition, President of the 5th Dimension Entertainment, Mr. Prince Iheanyi, who gave details about the project, said they want to change the narrative of the entertainment space in the world, which is mostly populated with music laced with illicit lyrics resulting to widespread indecency and moral decadence, especially among young people.
“We want to change this narrative by using gospel music as the tool.”
Entertainment is a big business in the western world, it brings like countries together. In Nigeria, entertainment is a money making business, most of the people in the entertainment industries are Christians but they don’t pass the message of Christ, they pass messages of drugs, sex and other immoral things.
If Christians can come together and agree, there is a lot of revenue that we can make in our own sphere of Christianity. We have alot of talented people who are even better than those into circular music, if the people in the circular industry are bringing revenue for the economy, then christians can also.
He explained that the audition would enable them to select talented gospel singers who shall minister the gospel through songs in an unprecedented manner never before seen or experienced in the world. Ihenayi said the audition is the forerunner to bigger events that would be the first of its kind globally. He said the project is 5th Dimension Entertainment’s way of contributing to making the world saner through gospel music.
One of the Juries at the audition who is also a gospel musician, Mr Mike Abdul, explained that the audition was a platform to give a voice and place to upcoming artists in Nigeria, he said it would serve as a platform to mentor upcoming artists, he therefore urged young/upcoming artists to grow beyond talents and use their music as weapon to create positive values in the country.
Abdul advised young Nigerian artists to infuse knowledge with their talents and not be discouraged.
“We need to step into their culture, influence and make them know they can do better. If we don’t do that, we would be creating chaos,” he said.
He commended the organisers of the initiative and called for more of such programs, and also appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to support such initiatives especially the ones targeted at empowering the youths.
Another jury, Mr. Iyke Michael who is an actor called their attention to how the movie industry had infused various cultures and harnessed them to promote the country.
He said the choice of gospel music was to celebrate God’s goodness, noting that a large percentage of music, including secular ones, has an undertone of glorifying God.
He said apart from it providing a gainful employment for the youths, it also brings alot of financial gain to the economy.
“A percentage of the youths have been gainfully employed. We are coming up with stories to promote our culture and this culture has moved and that is the dream we have for Christian gospel music. One major problem in Nigeria is how to be able to harness the many cultures that we have.”
Another Music Director, Julius Charles described the programme as amazing as it is a platform to nurture young Christian Gospel musicians.