20 years after her debut album Excessive Rise hit the Nigerian gospel scene, Oyindamola Adejumo-Ayibiowu, PhD, displays on a journey marked by divine calling, creative legacy, and a steadfast dedication to nationwide improvement.
A gospel music artist, author, and improvement economist, Oyindamola has labored with worldwide organizations, academia, and public establishments for over 25 years. But, regardless of her skilled achievements, it’s her ministry by music that has left an indelible imprint on generations. The daughter of Nigeria’s late legendary comic, Moses Olaiya Adejumo, popularly generally known as “Baba Sala,” she has carved a novel identification for herself—one which bridges mind, religion, and creativity.
“My first album, Excessive Rise, launched in 2004, stays particular to me,” she says. “Not simply because it touched lives, however due to how broadly it circulated. It’s nonetheless evergreen.”
One of many standout tracks, Werewere, holds specific significance for Oyindamola. She wrote it in 1996 as a college pupil, and it served because the theme tune for the very first live performance by the Oratorio Music Basis—a non-profit she based that very same yr to mentor younger individuals and nurture inventive expertise.
“Werewere was one in all my earliest compositions. Once I recorded it in 2004, I by no means imagined I might revisit it 20 years later with contemporary eyes,” she shares. That revisiting has taken type in a twentieth anniversary remake designed to resonate with a youthful viewers, notably Gen Z. “Each the audio and video had been produced by Gen Z creatives. It’s my manner of bridging generations, honouring the place we began, whereas embracing the place we at the moment are.”
The video, shot in South Africa, is about to be launched on April 20 and might be obtainable on all streaming platforms, providing a contemporary lens on a message that continues to encourage.
Balancing artistry with a lifetime of service has not been with out its challenges. Oyindamola, who isn’t in full-time ministry, juggles an 8–5 job in improvement work, her position within the Oratorio Basis, and her private ministry. “As I develop in my profession, balancing the whole lot has turn out to be more difficult,” she admits. “However it has additionally stretched me to turn out to be an employer of labour.” She now runs with a devoted crew. “I by no means thought I would wish a private assistant or a everlasting sound engineer. I by no means imagined needing a social media supervisor. Immediately, I’ve employed all of those individuals and extra, parting with a few of my private revenue as a result of my ministry work is nonprofit”.
She additionally explains, “Oratorio Music Basis itself has grown right into a structured group with ten distinct departments- together with Music and Performing Arts, Enterprise Analysis and Technique, Group Service and Outreach, Management and Imaginative and prescient Improvement, Social media and Branding, Stakeholder and Alumni Relations, Entrepreneurship and Capability Constructing, Prayer and Welfare, Fundraising, and extra These departments are led by alumni volunteers and overseen by senior lecturers on our campuses, performing as mentors and advisers. “That construction has taken a variety of the burden off me,” she explains. “It permits me to give attention to different callings.”
But on the coronary heart of all her commitments is her household. A mom, spouse, and sibling, Oyindamola has made intentional selections that replicate her values. “I earned my Grasp’s and Doctorate levels overseas and had alternatives to pursue a world profession. However I selected to stay in Nigeria,” she says. “It wasn’t as a result of I lacked the choice emigrate, however as a result of I acknowledged the calling of God on my life and my accountability to my household.”
Her kids have been a part of her musical journey from the beginning. “Earlier than I constructed my very own studio, I might go to classes with them—even when it meant spending 48 hours there. We did it collectively,” she remembers. Now that they’re older, she finds extra time to give attention to her a number of callings.
With the gospel music scene in Nigeria evolving quickly, Oyindamola has phrases of knowledge for rising artists. “To succeed, you want extra than simply expertise. It takes critical work, technique, and relentless prayer,” she emphasizes. In an period the place social media has democratized visibility, she urges youthful artists to be intentional and to construct sustainable paths that don’t compromise their values. In keeping with her, “In the event you’re not sponsored, how do you survive with out compromising your values? That’s why I mix my music with my tutorial {and professional} profession. A Yoruba proverb says (paraphrased),” a motherless baby should keep away from sustaining wounds on the again”. So when you’ve got no mum or dad or pastor saying, ‘I’ll foot all of your payments,’ then you have to discover a solution to stand.
Technique will protect your calling. I’ve heard of artists sleeping with entrepreneurs or coming into exploitative offers simply to be seen. However in the event you construct a sustainable path, you gained’t commerce your spirituality for fame.” She provides. “It’s God who declares His personal.”
Past the pulpit and efficiency phases, Oyindamola sees gospel music as a nationwide asset. “Gospel music is a multi-dimensional power,” she says. “Spiritually, it carries the message of hope and therapeutic. Economically, it creates jobs—from producers and instrumentalists, o model managers and even tailors.”
She factors to packed gospel live shows at main venues like Tafawa Balewa Sq. as proof of the business’s affect. “It’s mopping up youth from the streets and giving them objective,” she notes. “Whereas some nations legalize marijuana to create jobs, gospel music uplifts communities and promotes peace. Once you spend money on the issues of God, peace reigns within the land.”
At 20 years and counting, Excessive Rise stays not only a musical venture, however a legacy. And Oyindamola Adejumo-Ayibiowu is much from performed.
Watch Werewere (twentieth Anniversary Remake) right here
