One of Nigeria’s sought after gospel music ministers Laura Abios, a prolific gospel minister who has been a blessing to humanity through her ministrations spoke with IMPACT NEWS about the gospel music ministry and the current Covid-19 pandemic. Excerpts;
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Who is Laura Abios?
Laura Abios is a gospel artist. Am a mother, am a wife, with two kids, am an entrepreneur am a song writer, a worshiper, a praise leader, am a voice coach, that’s basically who Laura is.
What has been the experience as a gospel artist in an industry where secular musicians are most appreciated?
I believe that everyone has his or her own place in the sky so there shouldn’t be any clash. I am a gospel Minister, I do ministry. I minister to the body, soul and spirit. So there is no clash anywhere. The secular artists entertain, am not in the business of entertaining. I minister through my music, I preach the word of God through my music. There is something about ministration, it is not about entertainment. You can minister through song and someone gets healed. My experience as a gospel artiste in the music industry has been amazing because it’s been fulfilling. I feel very fulfilled because it is something I always love to do from childhood. It’s more of ministry and when I see people blessed by my ministration it gives me fulfilment.
There are some critics that believe that most gospel music is not evangelical. What is your take?
People must always have what they believe. I believe that gospel music is evangelical. I see it as a tool of evangelism; you preach the gospel through music. You can sing and somebody gets healed, you can sing and people give their lives to Christ. I have had so many encounters, by the grace of God my music ministry has brought people to Christ. People must always have what they say, it’s their opinion. What God says about me is what gives me joy and not what people say.
In this Covid-19 period do you think gospel music can make impact?
In this Pandemic gospel music has been making impact. For the past three months gospel artists have taken up another medium which is the social media to meet people. You find out that March, April most people were at home looking for what to do. Most people were always with their phones. Gospel artists took it upon themselves, had worship programmes online. This period has been a great time. Gospel music has made great impact and it’s still making impact.
How impactful is the umbrella body of gospel musicians in Nigeria?
We have quite a number of umbrella bodies. It has been of great impact to upcoming artists. There is this synergy in the umbrella bodies. It has been impactful because most people have learnt a lot from the ones that are there. There is unity, amongst these special people. You have the upcoming, you have the ones that are not there yet that are still thriving, there is this driving force when you have someone up there that you look up to, it gives you motivation. It has really been impactful for gospel music.
Do you have any album or any project you are working on at the moment?
At the moment I have some projects. I just released a video, I have quite a number of songs am working on. Am trying to see if I can meet up with my target of September God willing. Am someone that never sit. I keep on moving, I keep on pushing. So I have some projects at hand by the grace of God to see how it can come to reality before the end of the year.
On covid-19, how did the lockdown affects you as gospel musician?
It’s a blessing in disguise for me. Although it stopped us from going to church, from for ministrations. It didn’t stop me totally because I have time to fellowship with God, I had time to write more songs, I had time to strategize, I had time to do other things, other businesses were birthed and it wasn’t bad all the way. I have so many things to thank God about for the lockdown period. It helped me to bound more with my children it also helped me to write more songs. I will be going to the studio very soon. I was able to also shoot my video. This one I just released. It was really a blessing in disguise.
