Gospel music heavyweight, Ohemaa Mercy, has advised up and coming gospel musicians to be disciplined and decent in their work.

According to her, there were a lot of challenges in the ministry which could be overcome through discipline.

Speaking to The Spectator, she said up and coming gospel artistes should first know their calling, as this was very important in the kingdom, as such would  allow God to take them through the process.

Ohemaa Mercy said, “ this would teach you how to write songs, how to understand His voice, this  is important in the life of every minister. To be able to be in the system for long time, you need to be disciplined, stick to the word of God, and walk with the Lord.”

Artiste management and collaboration

Touching on artistes being managed by their partners, Ohemaa Mercy said, she saw nothing wrong with it.

 “If you have a husband who understands and supports you to build your ministry, there is nothing wrong,” she stressed.

On gospel artistes featuring secular musicians, Ohemaa Mercy said “ mostly, there is nothing wrong, is it to win souls for God or business; in Ghana every Christian has his or her way of worship and as a result, I don’t condemn everything when it comes to gospel, God has a way of bringing people into His kingdom.”

For her, “the mindset behind the collaboration should be the winning souls for Christ, our beloved saviour.”

Song writing

Asked how she wrote her songs, Ohemaa said, “After getting the message from God, go into the Bible for more understanding and call others, including

Reverend Yawson, some gospel artistes, among others to discuss the message with them.”

Ote Me Mu (He Lives In Me)

She said during the lockdown in 2020, the scenes of COVID-19 patients on hospital beds and shown on Aljazeera among other foreign television networks made her pray a lot for lives to be save.

She stated that during one of the prayer session, God revealed the “Ote Me Mu” (He Lives In Me) song to her, and following that she called highlife artiste, Kwabena Kwabena, with whom they had worked on other songs in the past to discuss it.

Ohemaa Mercy added that she sat with him (Kwabena Kwabena) to look at the composition and arrangement of the lyrics.

“it is not the first time working with Kwabena Kwabena on a song, it is all about the motive behind partnering with secular artistes,” she said.

The Onim Me hitmaker disclosed that “I have been telling Kwabena Kwabena to sing gospel, and any time I tell him , there is always one thing he says, that he doesn’t want to bring the wrath of God on himself, and that when he is ready, he will dedicate himself fully to it.”

Ohemaa believes that anybody can sing to encourage, but the backing by the power of God is very important.

The Ote Me Mu song featured MOG, produced by Kaywa and video directed by McWillies is available on all digital music stores across the country.

By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme, Deborah E. Andorful & Tabita Quaye