Bahati and Willy Paul are the two princes of gospel music, each vying for the ultimate crown of boy king.
Both are barely out of their teens,
moderately talented and much loved by legions of fans.
While Bahati is polite and immensely
likeable, Willy is brash and very much an acquired taste, aggressive, the
quintessential star.
Kevin Kioko Bahati sensationally
accused Wilson Paul Opondo of stealing at least two of his songs through a
complicated arrangement involving producer Teddy B. “Now you’re going to every
producer who has my un-released songs bribing them you get my songs that Kenya
has not even heard and then rushing to release them,” he wrote on his Facebook
page.
Apparently, Willy Paul had already
“stolen” the next song Bahati was to release called Maria from Still Alive
Studios and “re-recorded” it with a new title, Salima.
In Bahati’s 633-word post — very
long by Facebook standards — he referred to Willy as “bro” eight times;
that’s one “bro” for every 80 words. Do bros steal their bros’ songs?
It probably breaks some sort of bro
code, but gospel bros can apparently steal songs from each other.
The tiff apparently blew over when
Bahati released his latest song, "Lover", and Willy quickly put out
"Vigelegele" to “counter” it. Are you still with me?
Yes, we’re talking about Christian
musicians who consider themselves ministers of the Word. Theirs is a ministry,
they’re quick to point out during interviews, dropping Bible verses pell-mell
and talking about their salvation stories.
Bahati and Willy Paul have a shared
history in a teen dance group that built their confidence and stage presence.
MINISTERS OF THE WORD
Bahati’s life is an open story – his
growing up in a children’s home and even has a song dedicated to his deceased
mother.
Little is known about the equally
talented Willy Paul, apart from a small-scale circus regarding his secondary
school results last year and whether he had passed. A more interesting tangent
is how we got here in the first place.
Bahati and Willy Paul are just the
most prominent of a growing list of child stars in the gospel music industry.
Industry is the best way to describe
it because “ministry” is disingenuous and misleading.
Gospel music outsells what Kenyans
consider secular music and quickly turns its purveyors into pop-culture icons.
Hope Kid, Ljay Maasai, Didi Kimer as well as a galaxy of DJs and “hypemen” are
all impressionable young acts preaching to the Christian audience.
Although I’m no longer a Catholic, I
have always admired process of training priests. After years of philosophy and
theology studies with some pastoral work thrown in, a young novice is lucky if
he gets ordained a deacon seven years after high school.
In that time, he has earned and
mastered the ministry, apprenticed under more experienced priests and
interacted with diverse congregations. Every Christian denomination has a
process of instruction and ordination before one is considered a leader.
How come the gospel music industry
has no such standards for those “called to it?”
Bahati and Willy Paul’s “beef”
should embarrass everybody in the gospel industry. The pastors who speak to
them, fellow artistes who have collaborated with them, event promoters who give
them gigs and everyone who has interacted with them has a responsibility to
mediate.
If they truly read the Bible they
purport to live by, they would have seen believers advised to settle their
conflicts in private in Matthew 18:15-17: “If your brother or sister sins, go
and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you,
you have won them over,” it says.
“But if they will not listen, take
one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses.’”
Do the teenagers who enter gospel
early receive any mentorship from more established seniors? Are they
instructed in the Word and how they should carry themselves? Sometimes it feels
like a case of the blind leading the blind.
Youngsters who barely understand the
Trinity shouting themselves hoarse about the miracle of salvation.
They quickly amass an army of
adoring groupies and the temptations that come with stardom. The media
faithfully chronicles their missteps, and beef is especially good for the
content-starved entertainment press.
Willy Paul has not responded
publicly to Bahati’s claims, but the jury in the court of public opinion has
already taken sides.
Neither of them has a publicist or a
manager. Some adult supervision is well and truly overdue before either or both
self-destruct.
BY LARRY MADOWO.
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