Renowned local music producer Pastor P, in an interview with one of the local media houses, said that gospel musicians have risen up the rank in terms of live music and superseded secular bands.

This was after he attended local gospel singer Serge Iyamuremye’s concert that attracted a mammoth crowd. Sharon Kantengwa sought views from a cross section of people on the comment.

In terms on performance, I agree that gospel artistes are doing better. The reason is simple, what do they play in church? The background is church, they rehearse everyday and they play instruments. Even the secular artistes that can do live today, like Mani Martin and King James and other popular artistes around the world, all have a background of church.

Church nurtures talent and when they cross over and come to the secular side, it may even be harder for them to get instruments for rehearsal, yet playing live band music requires a place for rehearsal to give it that perfection.

Remmy Lubega, CEO RG Consult

Being good at live music is a combination of many things. It’s about the talent itself, the effort you put in rehearsals and the sound. The sound plays a very big role.

People tend to fall in love with the live band if the vocalist is talented but if the sound is not good then it kills everything. Having quality sound is not something easy to come by especially when you are main stream and have a bigger crowd. Semi live would be the best thing for mainstream artistes in East Africa if we want to perfect live music.

Jody Phibi, artiste

I think that secular musicians are also doing well but the difference that people see is the combined performance of the musician and artiste. Gospel artistes are doing very well with live because it is a combination of the artiste and sound. 

The problem with the secular artistes is that they are not as energetic in live performances. Secular artistes are good but they need combined performance. The second reason is gospel songs in terms of music technique and arrangement, is somehow different from secular music, which allows the band to a variety of choice to play.

Eric Mashukano, founder of Moriah Entertainment

What’s making live artistes successful is the passion that they have, the packaging, the vibe they put on stage, music sensation, their presentation and the kind of genre that they perform. It is all those details that make up a successful live music.

Hope Annet, music fan