There is a business side of gospel music~ King Mike Aremu; speaks passionately about the loving memories of his recently passed mother Prophetess Abebi Aremu
One thing I know is when Nigerians invite American gospel artists they deal with them like they deal with secular artists, they pay their money upfront, they do all the business sides, but it is always a challenge when a Nigerian gospel artist demands the same.
Introduction
My name is King Mike Aremu, I am an artist, a saxophonist. I started by playing other instruments from a white garment church in Minna Niger state where my family attended.
I play abit of every instrument, the keyboard, the baze guitar, rhythm guitar,drums, i play the percussion and something we used to call the acuba, i also played the samba, so that was how i started.
I am from Ogbomosho, Oyo State. I was born in Kaduna, i grew up in Minna where i attended primary and secondary school and that where i pickup my interest in music.
I am the last of eight kids, we used to be eight but now six.
I studied electrical electronics from Ilaro Federal Polytechnic Ogun state and University of Maiduguri Borno state as well.
Q: When did your journey into stardom began?
A: I was signed into Kennis Music in 1999, which is when i can say my career properly begun.
I released my very first album ‘dance’ and in 2001 i released another album called ‘no shaking’, in 2005 I released my third album titled ‘unveil’ in 2011 I released ‘Coat of many color’ my latest work was released last year 2020 called ‘sound of the spirit’.
Q:Which of your songs do you feel is the best song you’ve ever made, that one that touches you the most?
A: That is a very difficult question to answer, to say which one exactly because every song when they were written meant different things to me, i cannot pick one in particular but i can say there are a few songs that did it for me. I will start from my very first album, “Oluwa ku ise” was the song that literally brought me out, then “Baba ye” which means God let your will be done, that also was a very important song to me, then ‘coat of many color’ where i did a song titled “Vow” it is a track that meant so much to me, also in that album i had a track titled ‘life goes on’.
Q: You started with Kennis music label, which label did you move to afterwards and what has been your experience in the music ministry so far?
A: Kennis Music was my first official record label so i was signed under Kennis music, my contract ended after my second album, “no shaking” afterwards my third album was released under my own record label, Mike Aremu Vision MAV records in collaboration with OJs music so it was a tough one trying to navigate and understand the Nigeria music industry which you can tell is evolving right now.
I have been an independent label so it is tough but i’m blessed that my foundation is solid, the credit goes to God almighty and of course Kennis music, that gave me a major foundation, that foundation has helped me a lot and also because i have being doing a lot of live concerts.
I pioneer a major concert called “Sax Appeal” i did the first one in 2009, at the museum center, it was a jazz concert which featured artists within and outside Nigeria, a female saxophonist from the United Kingdom, Yolanda Browns, there’s an artist from South Africa Judith, Kunle Ayo, Cobbams, Tosin Martins, Yinka Davids and many more.
Then biggest of the concerts was when I brought Kenny G to perform in Nigeria at the Eko hotel in 2011, it was a major event that sold out fast, every other sax appeal concerts also sold out, hence we moved from the museum center to Eko hotel,we had series of the concert ‘sax appeal’ in Abuja 2014 also in 2016 which featured Grammy award winning Indi arie so with these concerts I’ve been able stay consistent in the industry.
It wasn’t like a gospel concert per say, it was a jazz concert but of course I performed my gospel tracks.
The most recent of my concerts was my 20TH anniversary which made it twenty years from when I released my first album with Kennis music, it was celebrated at the Lagos intercontinental hotel, it was a massive success this time it was a complete gospel concert.
It was a thanksgiving concert where I had Tope Alabi, Sammie Oposo, Tim Godfrey, Onos Ariyo, Ibitayo Jeje so that was for me a thanksgiving concert, it was such an outstanding success and I thank God for that.
: You are one of the most qualified persons to ask this next question, there is this popular debate about Gospel music being
a ministry and not a means of livelihood what’s your take on that?
A: A lot of people see gospel music as a ministry while many see it as a business, there’s also a fine line between that, yes we have that message of the gospel but there is a business side of gospel music,there has always being an argument of oh because it is gospel music people should not charge, there’s always been that debate, so some people are from a school of thought that yes even though it’s gospel music you still have to charge, that is the school of thought where I belong because I believe it’s ministry but it is still our source of income but some people believe it’s just a ministry that shouldn’t be profitable so you shouldn’t charge, personally I do not condemn anyone who falls on either of this two sides, it depends on how you have been called to do it.
One thing I know is when Nigerians invites American gospel artists they deal with them like they deal with secular artists, they pay their money upfront, they do all the business sides, but it is always a challenge when a Nigerian gospel artist demands the same.
Q: These days Gospel music is being categorized as a genre, you are a jazz artist, you should be recognized as a jazz artist, accepting to be categorized under one genre means putting everyone who sings gospel under one category no matter the type of music you sing.
Afrobeat,R&B, everyone is put under one category ‘gospel’ ll that not limit the creativity of the artists, so are you comfortable with this?
A: Gospel music is a genre of music, it’s in a class of his own, the reason why it’s on that genre is because the message is about the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is a music affiliated to Christianity, in that, gospel music is also all sought of music styles, you have people who are doing Fuji gospel, soft rock gospel, some do classic gospel, African gospel,some Afrobeat gospel etc. therefore it is categorized as gospel because of the message.
I think that’s the reason why it’s been categorized into one genre of music. You have Sammie Okposo doing praise and worship, Mike Abdul doing Fuji gospel, Henry Soul doing R&B gospel.
Q: You are an international successful artist so what do your fans expect from you next?
A: I am planning to release a few songs in the next few months, I won’t let out the cat but they are really great songs, the songs I’ve being doing lately have a lot of singing in it.
I have been doing some singing in my past records but I’m emphasizing on singing more now than in the past because in life you have to keep discovering yourself.
My music is under saxophone right now so it’s no longer going to be just the saxophone alone I am exploring the gift of singing as well.
There will be a couple of wonderful songs, I believe God given songs that I will be releasing in the next few months. There will be some very interesting collaborations.
Q: How did you come about the name “king Mike Aremu”?
A: I came about the tittle “king” in 2019 when I was about to celebrate my 20TH first album release anniversary; I reconnected with Pastor DR Paul Enenche of Dunamis center based in Abuja , an anointed man of God so when we reconnected the first thing he called me was “king Mike” he said to me, you are not just Mike, you are “king Mike” and I was like wow, I believe flesh and blood did not reveal that, I believe he is a man of God and there must have been why he’s called me ‘king’.
Also when I started planning my 20TH anniversary, the planner in charge of the event Tunde Oke or Tunde Praise, I put a call through to him on my way back from ministering at Dunamis church, I got off the plane and called Tunde praise to tell him I’ve got a project for him the first thing he called me while answering his phone was “King Mike” so that took me by surprise because he wasn’t at my encounter with Pastor Dr Paul Enenche nor was he even aware I was in the country, then thought to myself, this is a confirmation that this is the next level God wanted me to be because I am a king, my middle name is “Adeyemi” meaning I am worthy of a crown I believe that’s why everything was working together and in my genre of music in Nigeria through the saxophone,
by his grace I have been a major influence on most saxophone players.
A friend of mine would always calls me “Oba Fere” meaning king of the horns, that has always been my name from the days of ‘House on the rock’ so everything now just began to make sense, it’s divine, the new name is “King Mike Aremu”.
Q: Your mom passed on recently, could you let us into what surrounded her passing?
A: I got a phone call during the lockdown, last year September the 8TH, I was called that grandma wasn’t responding so I was on the phone whilst they took her to the hospital where on arrival they pronounced her dead.
A day before then I’d done a video call with her
because she had just recovered from an ailment, she was discharged from the hospital, she had a kidney failure and she survived it according to the doctor.
The day she passed was the day we were told she wouldn’t need to come back for a checkup, that she was fine, that all her levels were normal.
She got home slept and did not wake again.
Q: I met mama before and I can testify she was a sweet Godly mother, I attended her service of songs and the memories of her plus testimonies about her brought free flow of tears to my eyes and I’m sure to many others. For those that didn’t meet her please give us a short memoir of mama? And if you can put in words, what this rare gem mean to you?
A: Her name was Janet Abebi Aremu A.K.A Prophetess Janet Abebi Aremu, one thing that is consistent with her that a lot of people have said during her service of song amongst many great things said about her was her prayer life and you already said that in asking this question what you know about her, yes she was very very prayerful, my mother till her last days, will pray sometimes from 10pm till about 3am consistently like that every single day and she never missed her fasting, infact one of the things I missed about her is that during length like this period that we are fasting she’s the one that ll keep tabs on the period of fasting.
I will miss so many things especially the fact that I will not see her again in this life until eternity when we shall meet at the feet of Jesus, I will also miss the fact that somehow I know that someone is 100% there physically praying for me and that was my mother, that confidence that somehow i have some backbone, yes Jesus and God is our backbone but with her i know that someone was interceding on your behalf, sincerely I will miss that feeling.
Of course i know she has sown seeds of prayers but the fact that she’s not physically there again to do that, nobody to call when you know you couldn’t talk to anyone else but you could talk to your mother, she always has something nice or an advice to give, that’s one thing I will always remember about her.
She lived for God all her life, she was in the choir till her last days she was the matron of the choir at Ogbomoso where she died and she spent her last days.
She was laid to rest beside her husband, my last dad. She was a good mother, I will miss her!
