Press Release

KALUSIAN

The Journey So Far

Part 1 - I never loved singing...

I never loved singing. Growing up as a teenager in a little town in Port harcourt, Nigeria the last thing I wanted to be part of was a choir. The thought of a choir robe or choir uniform freaked me out as well as the argument that goes on when a new choir outfit is to be made, the color, the style etc. But I love the music thing so I thought becoming an instrumentalist is better for me at least we don’t always need a uniform be on stage, I thought.

Fast forward- I moved to Ghana in 2007 and joined the praise team KICC church in Accra as one of the bassists.

One Saturday morning, we were rehearsing songs for Sunday worship service. There was this particular song we had to do but the lead vocalist wasn’t present. Suddenly I saw the choir leader walk up to me with a microphone in his hand. He said,

“
hey young man! ,
I want you to try this song !!!
”

I had to look back to be sure it was me. Before I could say Jack, he had already handed the mic to me.

Dropping the bass down felt like an hour and walking up front to sing felt like a century. I was kinda sure I could sing the song but I wasn’t sure how he knew I could sing at all cos I barely sang in public. Whilst singing, the music director stepped in and was amazed who was singing. Then She requested that I’ll be the one to sing the song on Sunday. Wow! that was a huge deal for me, standing in front of about 2000+ member congregation for the first time…

“
...I almost said NO!
”

It was Sunday morning, I was dressed up ready to sing. First service was BOOM! … and 30minutes later we jumped in for the second service and I had to sing same song.

At the end of the second service, someone slipped a note into my front pocket, I stepped aside to see what it was and wow! It was a $100 bill. In Africa that was huge and uncommon. Another congregant blessed me with a new pair of trousers.

Immediately I was converted from an instrumentalist to a singer. Two months later, there was a major city wide concert and TV3 (national TV) would be broadcasting live and guess which song was on set? That song I did! I almost passed out; the stage light, smokes, live camera, and thousands of people from across the city, it was an experience for me. I was so nervous, that 3 hours to the time, I had ironed my choir uniform three non-consecutive times! On the third time, the trouser split because it was overly ironed.

“
...Whoops!
”

A friend came in and suggested some amazing physics. He turned the cloth inside out, took white paper and glue it to that spot, it worked! Hahah well I had to be careful how I danced on stage otherwise you know…

It’s being a journey these 14years, music has brought me to different places and meet different faces in Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Finland and many more but deep down, I feel I’m just beginning. There’s so much ahead and ‘it can only get better’ is my way of saying that.