There have been a number of instances where secular musicians suddenly “find God” and switch to doing gospel music. Some also suffer from hallucinations induced by a broken heart and start imagining God calling them to spread his gospel through their music, as is the case of Ofori Amponsah. What is not very common is to have a gospel musician denounce the church, give up on winning souls and unrepentantly backslide into the world of secular music, churning out hit after hit of “worldly songs”.
Such is the case of fast-rising young Ghanaian musician, Eugene Marfo, popularly known as Kuami Eugene. Kuami Eugene made his debut on the music scene when he participated in the MTN Hitmaker show in 2015. Though he didn’t win the ultimate award, his talent opened a lot of doors for him, eventually landing him a deal with Lynx Entertainment, his current record label. Best known for his hit songs like “Angela” and “Confusion” which can be categorized under secular love songs, Kuami Eugene did not start off as the young love doctor we know him to be.
In his younger years, he was nicknamed the “African Prince of Worship” and had songs like “No Jesus, No Life”, “Heaven”, “Nana Nyame” and others to his glory. But what would cause a young, impressionable lover of Jesus to suddenly turn from the pulpit and be the voice you hear in every nightclub and bar? Well, Ghanaian gospel singer Julia Annor-Yeboah aka Aduhemaa, is of the opinion that Kuami Eugene switched from gospel to secular music because of the unbearable hypocrisy of Christians.
According to her, Christians and other gospel musicians do not support up and coming gospel artistes. Speaking in an interview with zionfelix.net, Aduhemaa said aside winning souls for Christ, gospel artistes also yearned for their craft to be recognized but Christians rather choose to support and patronize secular music to the detriment of the gospel. “When you are a gospel artiste, your purpose is to reach people, inspire, let them know about God and salvation and the next purpose is to put my gift out there for people to appreciate it. When you are doing all these songs and nobody is appreciating it and even the Christians who have seen it will not help with your promotion, it makes you frustrated. It discourages you because you are not fulfilling all your aims as a gospel artiste”, she bemoaned.
She stated that she will never judge Kuami Eugene for ditching gospel music because the same Christians who were unsupportive of him in his gospel days are the same ones heavily patronizing the “Angelas” and “Confusions” since he switched. “I will never blame Kuami Eugene because he couldn’t fullfill all the two purposes of his gospel music career – to win souls for Christ and also push his talent out there. If I for instance release a secular song and wear a sexy dress for the video, it will sell.”
Obviously displeased and unimpressed by the attitude of her fellow Christians, the young singer minced no words when she said, “They won’t support you but if you shift to another genre, they will tell you to turn to Jesus as if singing love song is a sin when it will sell you more than the gospel they are not ready to help. I think the guy got a management who advised him to switch from the gospel. The Christians and gospel artistes don’t support the young ones. If nobody will support the young gospel artistes, that is what will happen at the end”
“Generally Christians do not support the ministry of the young ones. Nobody comments, share and supports when you release a good material, it will just be friends and family until God opens a way and you get a favour somewhere. When they want to put you on their programs, they will strike a deal with you that you have to get a certain number of people at the event before you get a certain percentage.”