Gospel musician Patience Nyarko has signaled her readiness to defend her craft, just as she did in 2020 if anyone attempts to undermine her work while seeking to promote their own. She emphasized her determination to stand up for her 'daily bread' in the face of challenges.
The singer in 2020 was livid over a comment that suggested that gospel songs performed
While discussing the state of gospel music on Anigye Mmre, DJ Alordia, a UK-based Ghanaian event organizer, expressed the view that Ghanaian gospel music struggles to reach a broader audience due to the language barrier. He argued that, as a promoter and event organizer, when he brings Ghanaian musicians to events, he faces challenges attracting attendees from other nationalities, such as Nigerians and South Africans.
Citing Nigerian gospel musicians who use the pidgin language in most of their songs, DJ Alordia says this attracts lots of people from other countries in the UK.
He, however, singled out Joe mettle, who uses the English language in some of his works, saying: “So, when you put him on a show here in the UK, you get lots of foreigners attending.”
Unhappy about the comment, Patience Nyarko launched an attack as she defended her craft. She maintained that Alordia’s statement is demeaning to some of them since “Joe Mettle is not where people want us to believe he is”.
“The way people want to lift him above all of us, they will give him problem. He is not yet there. People want us to believe he is better than all of us gospel musicians in Ghana.”
“Apart from Joe Mettle singing Pentecost and Methodist songs, how many English songs has he composed and you want to disrespect some of us that write our own songs,” she complained.
Patience Nyarko vehemently addressed the issue on every platform she found herself.
Making a submission on UTV’s United Showbiz on Saturday, November 25, 2023, monitored by GhanaWeb, Patience Nyarko said she had no regrets rebutting the statement.
“I fought a good fight,” she said. “If I need to do that again, I will. I did a good thing and I was happy. How do you make a comment to discredit people who sing in Twi? Nobody can prevent gospel musicians who sing in Twi from performing and earning income.”
She continued: “How many gospel songs sung in English are able to break boundaries compared to those in Twi?... Sing in English if you want. Allow me to sing in Twi because it makes me feel good. Let’s do what pleases us.”
Meanwhile, Patience Nyarko said there was no bad blood between her and Joe Mettle.
“We’ve met a couple of times. We are cool. He understands my point,” she said.
Patience Nyarko; Joe Mettle
