On Saturday, March 23, Catholic faithful and their friends braved the inclement weather and converged at UNILAG for the second edition of Catholic Praise Concert (CPC) tagged ‘Dare to Praise’. Senior Copy Editor, INNOCENT ANORUO, chronicles the event which participants see as a way of waking the sleeping giant in Gospel music.
The Catholic Church, arguably the oldest in history, has music in its liturgy. But then, it was what is known as the Gregorian chant – in unison. It did not see the need for harmony, let alone chromatic notes that add colour to music. Small wonder that Catholics were infinitesimal in the number of famous ancient classical musicians. When you count among the Mozarts, the Mendelsohns, the Handels and the Bachs of this world, only Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music, could be recognised as Catholic.
But when Pentecostalism came, the proponents seemed to make music their unique selling point (USP). In fact, with the sort of praise songs and instrumentation that they came with, many Catholics started seeing the holy Mass, the summit of Catholic worship, as a boring exercise. The consequence? They started moving out, claiming to have “seen the light”.
However, the trend seems to be changing. The sleeping giant is about to wake. The Catholic Praise Concert (CPC) is here, having made its debut on April 26, 2014 at the Freedom Park, Lagos.
At the second edition held March 23, in the Main Auditorium of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Lagos, tagged ‘Dare to Praise’, participants attested to this fact.
Fr. Alphonsus Ozoemena, who officiated the holy Mass that kicked off the event, affirmed that the Pentecostals are doing well in Gospel music, adding that Catholics have the potential to do better.
“Pentecostals are doing wonderfully ahead of Catholics when it comes to praising God through music. But we (Catholics) are sleeping giants; when we rise, they will start looking for their legs” was how Fr. Ozoemena of the Dominican Itinerant Preaching Ministry wrapped up the homily.
Earlier in the homily, he had traced the relationship between music and salvation of mankind.
According to the cleric, the fall of man created a gulf between God and man. And the ministry of Jesus fixed that relationship.
“The Holy Spirit is one, but the gifts are diverse. Among these gifts is singing ministration,” he said.
Making allusion to the words of St. Augustine, that he who sings prays twice, the priest added that singing nourishes the spiritual person.
On the essence of music, he said: “Music is used to hit home the Gospel; it is so important to the digestion of the message of Christ.
“Songs bring about healing, as Saul’s insanity subsided at David’s music. Hence I thank God for the birth of Catholic Praise Concert.”
The Concert
After the Mass came the concert which was compered by comedians, MC Big Ant and MC Mikoyo, with DJ X-Moe on the wheel of steel.
The first act, Peacemakers, kept members of the audience at the edge of their seats. The two Gospel choreographers got some watchers awestruck and others excited with their extraordinary body twisting and acrobatics. Fizzy came with his Gospel urban style to douse the tension. His voice did not impress much, but the young dancers with him stole the show.
De Supreme God of Dance (DESUGAD), mounting the stage, took the notch higher. When it seemed that the performance was over, it just started. The miming started from searching for TV stations with an imaginary remote control to getting a preferred station. Then the sitting room turned to a TV studio where some politicians, including Patrick Obahiagbon, were dissecting national issues. When you have an impostor of the ‘krinkum kankum’ exponent speaking, the atmosphere could be predicted.
Resurrection Choir from the Church of the Resurrection, Magodo, Lagos, followed with a Yoruba song, ‘Alade Ogo’ which was accompanied with local musical instruments. Before the choir’s second rendition in Urhobo, which drew long applause, a four-year-old among them had started thrilling the audience with her miming.
Axios Choir from Babcock University, Ogun State, led by Raymond Okoro did not disappoint, as it performed with a ballet dancer.
Performing at home, St. Cecilia Choir of UNILAG Catholic Chaplaincy did the Pater Noster in Swahili. Before it left the stage, the ‘mass choir’ gave the audience a remix of the traditional Igbo piece, ‘Alleluia Chi m lee’, with a male solo singer supported by a trumpet and the band.
St. Cecilia is a 70-man choir of UNILAG Catholic Chaplaincy, with Victus Eze as Director and Ehimanre Asuelinmen as the Assistant Director. It performs songs of different genre ranging from choral music, acapella, spirituals to contemporary. Aside its function as back-up at recordings, it also performs at weddings, birthdays, concerts, etc.
Blackout made Ablaze Dance Crew to come back after an interrupted performance. The story, in the group’s first appearance, is about how the devil came to steal the warriors’ weapons of war. The victory story was completed at the second performance.
With its brass ensemble, Goody Bama Orchestra served the audience ‘Ibike’, an Ijaw song as composed by Derrick Esezobor.
When Kenny K’Ore, formerly of Infinity, mounted the stage, many did not recognise him. And since he was one of the star performers, great was expected and same he gave. He electrified the hall with his signature ‘S’Omore’ and other songs of his.
In fact, of the three star performers, only Prisca D’Nightingale calmed the nerves and pulse of the audience with her solemn classical pieces. Resplendent in her red dress that glowed with the lighting, she applied her sweet soprano voice to ‘O vos Omnes’ and ‘The Lord is my Light and Salvation’.
Some members of the audience said Prisca’s performance made their night, as her kind of music was what made them attend the event.
Igbo Gospel rap artiste, Kellar Thrillz, with his acrobatic dancers, performed ‘Aka Gi’ (Your hand).
Flo, the Gospel rock artiste who was kept for the last, also kept his ‘T’wale’ for the last. He also caused a pleasant stir in the hall.
Vision of CPC
The CPC has come to stay, and the organisers seem determined to take it to places. They said until the Vatican starts to talk about CPC as one of the top five Gospel music shows in Africa, it is not yet uhuru.
On the vision of the CPC, one of the organisers, Peter Egbumokei, said right now, sponsors are very limited. “We are not charging any ticket fee; admission is free of charge, and we are solely dependent on donors.”
According to him, the aim is to move the concert from city to city or have more than one concert in a year, maybe two cities in a country. “When we start to have regional attendance, people coming in from outside Nigeria and Lagos to perform; that is what we look forward to.
“But ultimately, we want people to be blessed; for those who don’t believe in God to see the awesomeness of God, not just entertainment.”
Hiccups
But the good show was not without hiccups, which some participants believe was the work of the enemy, the Devil.
According to MC Big Ant, the enemies tried to dissuade people from coming, first with fuel scarcity and second with the rains. When the two failed, they tried blackout, and it failed. Then they went to the power generating set, which became problematic for a long time. This ate into the time of the show.
But with his “the Devil is a lair” mantra, the participants were ‘gingered’ to keep praising God, even in darkness. Thanks to the brass ensemble of Goody Bama Orchestra that kept the hall aglow with beautiful tunes.
Room for improvement
According to legend, the largest room in the world is for improvement. The CPC started last year with some success, but this year’s was better. Since it seems to be a learning process, there are many areas, TheNiche noted, that can be improved upon.
In the first place, it seems the organisers did not make adequate provision for power, as the generating set disrupted the programme a bit, making the audience not to get enough of the lead artistes. For instance, Kenny K’Ore and Flo were billed to perform for about 90 minutes altogether, but, because of time constraint, they did not put in up to 20 minutes.
Again, some of the participants felt that the event was not well arranged. Speaking under anonymity, they said the performances are supposed to be arranged in such a way that, the Mass is followed by sacred solemn songs like those by Prisca and some choirs before the hot ones like Gospel urban.
