Entertainment of Sunday, 21 October 2012
Source: Kwame Dadzie
While some secular musicians are converting to gospel, others who were nurtured in the church and are expected to sing gospel are rather doing secular music, a case in point being dancehall diva Kaaki.
I know there are a lot of secular musicians who were strong “chrife” (holier-than-thou attitude), played church bands before switching to do secular music. I can mention Lucky Mensah and Rex Omar. I even hear Ofori Amponsah was also a church boy before he was ‘stolen’ by the devil.
Stories of converted Lord Kenya, Ofori Amponsah and the like tell us that most people who do secular music engage in acts of ‘the world’: womanizing, smoking, debauchery, occultism, sexual immorality among others. Truly, these are acts that don’t become one who is in the Lord. Hallelujah, somebody!!!
Apart from secular musicians who may not have been brought up the Christian way, and so may have the high propensity to wallow in these acts of the world in pursuit of their career, it also holds true that those “chrife” turned secular acts tend to sway to the side of the ‘world’ once they land on the turf of secular music.
For example, there are certain things secular musicians can do that a gospel musician must not do. A secular musician may advertise for an alcoholic drink but a gospel music who does that promotes alcoholism which is not acceptable in Christendom.
A secular musician may dress outlandishly or even provocatively and may not have much flak from the public, but a gospel musician does same and the whole world descends on them. This is because the gospel musician should represent Christ and is supposed to espouse the virtues of Christianity.
Kaaki is a very good dancehall artiste, very beautiful and physically endowed. She has a unique style that really makes her appeal so much to her patrons. Being someone with a strong “chrife” background, one would have thought she would do gospel music, but as most people say, doing secular music doesn’t mean one is a devil.
I don’t have a problem with Kaaki doing secular music instead of gospel but I have the inkling that she does not feel comfortable doing secular music. The fact is that if you are a staunch Christian, very active in church activities, it is very difficult do trade your talent outside the church, especially as with Kaaki.
For those who say Kaaki has bad stagecraft, I think she gets hobbled by her “chrife” instincts which make it difficult for her to do certain things on stage. After receiving bashing from people, she now wants to please fans so would want to do some serious gyrations. Her acts on stage show clearly that she wants to be a true secular musician, but I think sometimes, while on stage, something tells her, “your pastor may be watching”.
This is what drives most secular musicians from the church. The moment they start to do anything other than gospel music, they live the life of the world, so even find it difficult to go to church. For example, a dreadlocked artiste who until doing secular music sported down-cut would feel shy to go to church. In fact most churches won’t accept him/her.
Gradually, Kaaki is transmuting into a secular artiste and I know it will be difficult for her in keeping faith with her Christian religion. She may not stop going to church, and even if she does I don’t give a damn because being a Christian is not synonymous with going to church but in her bid to be more secular, she should not be worldly; she should always remember her Christian values.