Reverend Sola Rotimi and the Triple S Ministries is popular with his hit songs Father bless my home, Bami wo ni awoye and others. The gospel singer, who has relocated to the United States of America (USA), speaks with Adetutu Audu on his music and evangelism ministry.
THE kind of gospel music you sang is different from what we have now. What do you think is the problem?
The main problem is that the artistes now are plagued with the perils of the end time. If one is not careful, it is easy to derail from the faith because it will come gradually. Most of them do not give their time to study the bible. When I was the president of the gospel musicians in Nigeria, I always told them you cannot sing the whole bible without studying the bible, no matter how gifted you are.
For instance, my song, Bami wo ni awoye was inspired by the story of Eli whose children became children of Belial. We need to pray for our children.
When you study the bible you get a lot of inspirations but if you don’t, there is the possibility of doing it your way. Gospel beats, rhythm, tempo should also be conducive to contrition. There are beats dished out in some of these songs which immediately you listen to it transport your mind to the dancing steps you see on TV.
People dance Makossa, Fuji, right in the church. That is not okay. We are preaching that the secular world should come to Christ but now there is no difference between the two.
That is the reason we have different types of gospel musicians. I was in the choir for years but I was not born again. However, one day I listened to a message from one of our district superintendents who said Jesus said it is not everybody that calls Lord, Lord that will go to heaven. Whosoever that is born again will go to heaven. So I made up my mind; God, if truly you save people, save my life.
You became popular with accordion. What inspired this?
Our choir master left to further his education and we had an accordion in our church. So there was no one to play. Since I became born-again, the pastor took interest in me and encouraged me. Initially, I was shy and could not play and sing with it simultaneously. One night, I prayed and said I wanted to be a big evangelist like the late Apostle Babalola who incidentally was from my home town.
He answered my prayers by the third day. I was able to change tunes of hymns and most of my lyrics I got from the bible. I started going round the major cities to play the accordion. I was working at the paper mill then. I would leave home as early as 5am and evangelise through singing.
By the time I got to the office, they would be talking about the angel who came around singing. My love for evangelism became so intense that I was always either on casual leave or annual leave. The day my secret was opened was when a train that usually came to Jebba broke down. The Holy Spirit told me to minister in the train. I later met people who invited me to minister in their churches. People came from far and near to listen and, alas, people recognised me. Holy Spirit taught me all I know, I never went to any music school.
However, in 1976, when my boss in the office could not stomach this kind of truancy again, I had to resign to become a full-time gospel evangelist. I am a solo performer. When I started this in Jebba, I was one-in-town. It was funny to some people to see me play and sing at the same time. It made me peculiar.
I tell stories with my songs. I do preach also but these days, people tend to like choruses and some beats alongside it. I have now resolved to have a group that sings with me. I have tremendous joy when I see people who play the accordion, a musical instrument I made popular in Nigeria. When I started, I was about the only person playing it.
Do you still play it?
I play it almost every day. In the US, they fell in love with my accordion because it is only the Spanish, Italians and the Germans who play it. They are only familiar with violin in the U.S. In the plane, they usually force me to play and I see it as an opportunity to minister. Till date, I have used more than 10.
People have argued that secular music is more rewarding than gospel. Why did you stick to gospel?
After I resigned from the paper mill, at a point when I was playing the accordion, I abandoned it that it was not financially rewarding. I went to learn printing after five years with the hope of graduating and establishing it big time. I was sitting with my colleagues when a man accosted me in their midst that God said I had abandoned the work he gave me.
I ran after the man, but I could not see him again. But as I was reading the bible, I came across the story of the parable of the talent so I asked God to forgive me. Also, the testimonies of people after they discovered I was the ‘angel’ that had been singing. I met someone who introduced me to the person who recorded my first LP.
What are you working on currently?
Right now, we are putting all works on compact disc and DVDs. We already have about 23. Among which is Father bless my home because this generation is familiar with it. And another old song for the old generation, they would be released this year.
