Elephant in the room – FATHER “KING PALUTA” TWUMASI
I must say that it looked a bit odd to see a Catholic Priest in his robe leading the entire congregation to sing the song of a known secular musician. But it is also myopic to make it look like every secular song is ungodly.
I don’t even want to talk about whether King Paluta’s Aseda song is gospel or not. I think the line people draw between gospel and secular songs, is in many respects very, very subjective. That is another topic for another day.
But the lyrics of that Aseda song from King Paluta sounds like words coming from a deep sense of genuine gratitude to God at a very personal level. Such are the kinds of songs that make impact.
The only reason I could think of, as to why people had issues with a Catholic Priest singing that song from behind the pulpit is because the writer and singer of that genuine thanksgiving song to God is a known secular musician.
So let’s use that as the yardstick:
R Kelly, who is now in jail for being a serial paedophile is a secular musician. But his song “Storm Is Over” was one of the biggest gospel hits ever. The song was so big even one of the biggest preachers of the gospel, TD Jakes re-recorded it with his church choir and they won a Grammy with it. The song became a staple in lots of Ghanaian churches across all denominations. That song, Storm is Over, had nothing about Jesus or God in there, but it was accepted as a godly (gospel) song and we all sang and still sing it in church.
The writer and singer of that song is in jail for paedophilia. We all saw the nasty videos he did in which he maltreated girls sexually like a pervert. In fact, after Storm is Over, R Kelly also did another hit song called “He Saved Me”, which also gained some popularity. He also did collaborations with people like Kirk Franklin and others.
Speaking of Kirk Franklin, his name has gone down in the history of gospel music as one of the greatest of all time (GOAT). But he had very grave moral issues. He confessed to being a serial watcher of pornography throughout the period he was churning out those big songs that rocked the world of gospel music, ignited worship and praise in churches across the world. What are we talking about.
I also know “gospel” musicians in Ghana who have been involved in stuff that a lot of secular musicians will never do. I don’t want to say certain things for people to put two and two together and figure out who I am talking about. But we need to chill on some of these things.
My group, Alabaster Box have our own version of the popular song “Lean on Me”. It is not a “gospel” song in the true sense of the word. It is secular, but it also not ungodly. We sing it in church and it is accepted. One of South African world acclaimed jazz gospel music greats, Jonathan Butler, is often described by his colleagues as “our brother in the secular music space”.
Jonathan Butler is popularly known for his song “Falling In Love with Jesus”. But he also has a lot of secular jazz songs out there. He is a big gospel conference singer in spite of is thriving carrier in secular music as well.
I guess this is just my long way of saying that if we can sing songs by R Kelly, Jonathan Butler, Kirk Franklin and even some gospel musicians in church, then we can sing King Paluta’s Aseda in church.
We need to chill on this hypocrisy and myopia about what is gospel music, whose song qualifies to be sang in church and what songs are okay for the pulpit.
On that note, let me say that Rev. Father Twumasi did not commit any sacrilege in singing King Paluta’s Aseda from the pulpit, and his apology was totally unnecessary. I don’t think God was worried about him singing that song, so, what is our locus as humans?
By Samuel Narku Dowuona (Xexe)