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From the moment Toyin Sokefun, now Toyin Bello,
better known as TY Bello, emerged on the scene as a
member of the defunct group Kush, an acronym for
Kinetically Ushering Salvation into Hearts and Homes,
it was obvious that she had the sky as her beginning.
Even when Kush band, whose other members
included, Lara George, Dapo Torimiro and Emem Ema
went under, the irresistible Toyin took up photography
fully and was a member of Depth of Field (DOF), a
collective of photo artists with the objective of
redefining the photography landscape of Nigeria.
DOF’s members were, Emeka Okereke, Kelechi Amadi-
Obi, Amaize Ojeikere, Uche James Iroha and Zainab
Balogun. The group later had one of its biggest
showings at the Maison De France, Ikoyi, in the early
2000s. Toyin later moved to commercial photography,
and at a time was former President Goodluck
Jonathan’s official photographer.
Even at this, she held on to her music tenaciously.Not
only has she released three albums, Greenland, in
2008, The Future in 2011 and The Morning Songbook
in 2014, her experimentation with spontaneous worship
sessions, which she started in 2015, has created a
platform for new album with the sonorous singer Tope
Alabi: A collaboration, which seemed the icing on the
cake for Toyin.
Alabi, a successful gospel musician with 10 albums to
her name, has one of the most unique voices on the
gospel scene. Her songs are evocative and rhythmical,
with deep Yoruba language paeans.
The lady, who is said to have scored over 1000 original
soundtrack for Yoruba movies, is the voice of the very
established Yoruba movie arm of Nollywood. For TY,
the collaboration was “purely inspired by God”.
In a statement titled, Unscripted, she said: “It
happened in a room with white walls. A polished grand
piano, a keyboardist, a lead guitarist, a talking drummer
and an audience of friends who were eager to tune
their minds to songs never written, never heard and
never performed.”
She continued, “and then we all waited, waiting for no
one in particular but waiting for the one in particular.
The sound engineers had readied their microphones,
adjusted the decibels of every technology that would
aid the smooth production and recording of excellent
sounds.
“And then He arrived the room. The One we had all
been waiting for showed up like He owned the air that
filled the room. Like He Had waited for us to recognise
His presence at our discretion.” She added, “Tope
Alabi felt a sensation and approached the microphone
in a hurry, taking a posture of reverence as she sang,
welcoming the presence of the sweet Holy Spirit who
was already in our midst and we hadn’t noticed
earlier.”
TY Bello followed, listening keenly to the direction that
has been impressed on Tope’s heart. “Then came the
spontaneous songs, as easy as a breeze- all
seventeen songs, racing towards each other in
worship, warfare, admonition and encouragement such
that the listener has a full experience of God’s
presence no matter where there were tilted in the
journey called life,” TY Bello said. “The smooth blend
of eloquent words of eulogy in brilliant Yoruba
language from Tope Alabi was a lesson in pure
palpable worship. Like reading the book of Jobs and
Psalms simultaneously, but in slow hurry.”
Titled, The Spirit of Light, the album has 17 unscripted
songs performed live over a three-hour period. It
features the already successful single, Logan Ti O De
and sets the pace for other hit singles such as Awa Gbe
Oga and All The Glory Belongs To You.
From songs of welcome to the beautiful presence of the
Holy Spirit, We Have Come and Emimimo to
evangelical songs like, Imole De, Oba Mi De, Logan Ti
O De. Songs of worship- Awa Gbe O Ga, Iwo Lawa O
Ma Bo, No One Else Like You, Kabiyoosi, Adonai, Eru
re to Ba, All the Glory and finally Angeli, a song of
admonition, the voice of these two artistes explode and
drop in rivulets. In fact, the collaboration best establish
a tradition that will come to define the pace, tempo and
content of gospel in years to come.
TY Bello said, “the album is a labour of love, put
together for a period of four months after fresh songs
from heaven had already been recorded. This involved
the input of brilliant musicians and worship leaders
including Wole Oni, Folabi Nuel, Wole Adesanya,
George Ade-Alao, Segunfunmi, Josh Keys, MELA
Music, Chuks Kalu and David Joshua of Ideal Concept
Solutions.
“This album is a testament to how we should live our
lives unscripted before God because he has designed
the contents and directions that our lives must follow to
find fulfillment. More than a worship experience, this
body of work is a lesson in faith because God always
shows up when we make ready our heart and lives for
his purpose.”
Source:
guardian.ng/art/tope-alabi-ty-bello-in-the-spirit-
of-light/