Pastor Joseph Gyebi drops visuals for 'Yesore Wo'

A little boy gave his life to Christ on a fine April Saturday in '89 and 27 years on, Pastor Joseph Gyebi, remains a soldier in the army of God.

His passion for seeing others come to salvation has grown; this passion led him to music, and he started singing in his final year at Mfanstipim School, and he hasn't stopped singing the Lord's song with much zeal and spiritual fervor ever since.

Pastor Gyebi’s Passion for music and salvation, has led him to seek knowledge, studying Ethnodoxology (The term finds its source in 2 Biblical Greek words.

"Ethno," from the Greek word "ethne" meaning 'peoples' or 'people groups' and "doxology," from the Greek word "doxos" meaning 'glory' or 'praise.') and taking the gospel to people in the remotest parts of the country. His missions have affected families in slums like Agbogloshie and villages like Chereponi, in the northern region.

Pastor Gyebi’s ministry is however not just about lifting the lowest in society, but also, the name of God. In most of his songs, including “I’m in love” and the more recent, “Yesore Wo”, the minister of the gospel, praises God and speaks of his astounding goodness. His style of music is youthful and groovy, yet conscious and spiritual, falling under the “contemporary gospel” genre.

In Pastor Joseph Gyebi’s quest to reach the masses with the gospel-laced in his music, he has shared plans to launch his latest music video to coincide with the independence celebration of the Republic. “Yesore Wo" is a song that gives God deserving appellations and celebrates his attributes. It was only right that we shot a video that depicts his handy works”, Pastor Gyebi said, when asked about the video.

Previewing the video myself, I realized an intentional attempt to showcase nature, with the principal scenes set by a water fall and cut-away shots of other elements of nature. The video is devoid of the monotonous approach to gospel music videos that Ghanaians have grown to get used to, being able to compete on any platform with best of high-life videos.

This video comes at a time, when Ghanaian gospel music faces persecution, for the perceived laziness by it’s fore-runners. Having a national music awards scheme scrap the “Gospel Album’’ category and only 2 gospel musicians get nominations in major categories, has put a lot of strain on gospel music practitioners to step up the praise. The problem may be hiding in the difficulties faced by these artistes when it comes to finding the bridge between sermon and entertainment and the ability to satisfy the old and young audience all at once.

This is a conundrum that Pastor Joseph Gyebi defies in “Yesore Wo”, which was produced by Koda (another gospel musician of high repute). The blending of percussions, horns, keys and strings, make it impossible to restrain your feet, which are bound to tap. “I was inspired by the word. The aim was to create a sound that would lift God’s name and also give the congregation a tune they can put on repeat”, said the man of God. He urged all gospel artiste to be courageous and accept the challenge they have been saddled with. “We are not just making music; we are making a path and building hope. What we do goes beyond profession or hobby, it’s a calling and we ought to treat it with such regard”.