Nigerian Music Nigeria – Buchi The Christian Artist Was Shot In Lagos

Source: SIMEON MPAMUGOH, Online Nigeria, Jan 09, 2010

The show was full of fun and expository. Such was the excitement that trailed celebration of a decade of absolute gospel music by Buchi, a young and hardworking man who uses reggae idiom as medium for effectively propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ. Buchi, as he is fondly called, is one gospel artiste who has traversed length and breath of the world with his message of the Cross. “Rhyme is not the reason, the reason is the cross” he noted at the well-attended event he organized recently to mark “a decade of excellence in gospel music”.

The event also celebrated life, times and music of this musician who was once acquainted with the motions of street life but who later wrote a book entitled Ceasefire to discourage violence of any form be it in the communal, domestic, religious or family lives.”

A man greatly helped and raised by Methodist Church, Buchi was at a time in 1992, lined up for execution at the Lagos Bar Beach. He was then accused of being a member of a suspected cult, but God saved him.

“I think I’m leaking this secret for the first time, especially to the hearing of my mother Chief (Mrs) Atuonwu who is right here with us. I was already condemned to death even after making a series of efforts to free myself from the allegation. But God eventually intervened on my behalf and I was spared at the last count” he confessed.

Buchi who is determined to reveal God and His words to adherents through gospel music, said that people criticize gospel artistes when they compromise and go secular without recourse to prayers. He pointed out that prayers could have provided the artistes with a sense of direction, wisdom and strength to carry on with the work of God.

He said that he has come a long way in his calling, adding that as a gospel music minister who cuts the image of a preacher deeply involved in his song far beyond its sound. “If people knew God, they would love Him and live for Him’’, he added.

Buchi whose real name is Enyioma Onyebuchi Atuonwu was a D-J in the 80s and 90s at the rested Floating Bukka, the reggae nightclub situated at a wrecked vessel on the shores of the Atlantic in Marina, Lagos. While at the club, nothing suggested to him that he would end up in the Church.

However, his passion for reggae music grew as a student of English language and literary studies at the University of Lagos, he had become familiar with the literature of activism of Black and African writers such as Mutabaruka, Dennis Brutus and Soyinka among others.

By 1988, the Abia State born gospel act was already armed with a masters degree in English and a wealth of exposure to both local and international reggae tunes and stars such as Culture, Burning Spear, Eric Donaldson and Frankie Paul. Buchi was widely expected to begin recording his own songs, but this was not possible, as he preferred to combine Disc-Jockeying with a PhD research programme at the University of Lagos.

In 1992, he gave his life to Christ and has remained in the Choir of Christ Embassy, Ikeja-Lagos.“I have found the reggae genre a veritable medium for spreading the gospel, he says, adding that the rhythm caresses the senses while the message goes to the heart. And when I started my gospel music journey, a non-christian who greatly helped me by allowing me his studio for sessions was Ras Kimono. It was there the first work entitled What a mighty God was cooked and served under polygram records’’, he explained
In his career, which spanned 10 years recently, Buchi has ministered in numerous concerts and crusades around the world, four audio albums to his credit with several awards to show for his consistency and creativity.

Other highlights of the celebration include the release of new acts such as: Push, with a work entitled Keep Walking and Papa English whose work will finally be unveiled in 2010. The star attraction at the event was the performance Buchi had with the Saxophonist, Ras Kimono before singing his original song God will make a way. There were also renditions from the Voice of Christian Martyrs, group of less privileged children of Stephen Centre, Abeokuta, who lost their parents in various disturbances in the North. Also in attendance were other gospel artistes such as Infiniti, Jahdiel, Rocksam, representatives of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN) as well as clergymen.

Nigerian Music Nigeria Ras Kimono