Expectedly, the crowd was mammoth. And like some witty Yoruba speakers would say, the crowd was populated by both ordinary people (ero) and distinguished personalities (eeyan). For those who know Celebrity Cele Pastor, Israel Oladele Ogundipe of Genesis Model Int'l, a parish of Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) situated in Agbado area of Lagos very well, that should not be a surprise. The young and upwardly mobile man of God is a crowd puller any day, any time, he is having an event. Those who witnessed his 40th birthday celebration not long ago would attest to that fact.
Meanwhile, what event was he having in this instance? You must be wondering. It's Friday, June 17th, 2016, and it was exactly 41 days after the demise of the pastor's aged dad, Pa Solomon Ogundipe (JP) aka Ijoba Orun Loku, and like it is done in Yoruba Land and some other places, that called for some sort of ceremony to bid the deceased farewell to eternity. Hence, the ceremony was held with lots of funfare in front of late papa's house somewhere in Agbado as the whole of the street and some adjacent nooks and cranies were taken over to sit guests.
Since the pastor simply called Genesis is someone highly reverred by Christian gospel singers and juju artistes alike, there was more than enough live music on the bandstand which was set up by award-winning artiste, Mega '99 with his instruments under his branded tent. And as a free minded music star, Mega '99 was liberal enough to allow other artistes that jostled to get hold of the lead microphone perform ahead of him before he eventually came up to do the final performance of the event late in the evening.
And probably, to show his appreciation for Mega '99's kind gestures, Genesis caught many of his guests unaware as he went straight to the stage to take over the drum from Mega '99's lead drummer, and he was able to exhibit another side of him aside from pastoring that many did not know about. More surprising was the fact that he came up stage at a point in time Mega '99 just began to sing a slightly modified version of Apala singer, Musiliu Haruna Isola's Soyoyo song. Mega '99 was just on the part which had "Konko Below..." and other popular lines that brought the Apala crooner fame and fortune some years back.
Meanwhile, with the way Genesis beat the drum and got every sound of the song note for note quite right, arguably, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal (K1)'s lead drummer, Ayinla Oluperi could not have done better. Not even Pasuma's Consoliday Sharafa, Saheed Osupa's Sunday Oluperi,
or even, Musiliu Haruna Ishola's Ode Bembe who created the beat in the first instance would have done better. The performance practically showed not only Genesis' mastery of drumming but also how he pays attention to details when he listens to music.
The question his performance left in the minds of many of those who watched his deft display on the stage was that: was he at any point in time a professional drummer with a band? Hope someone could just provide an answer to that poser.
The video of the performance is available on YouTube via this link: https://youtu.be/zNh00Uynuvk
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