Olukanni lists sync rights, collaborations and brand endorsement as some of the ways the group could have benefited over the years. That is not to say that the song’s popularity has necessarily translated to commercial success like Mariah Carey. “It is one of the greatest songs that have graced Nigerian airplay, and as it’s been carried along by listeners who have travelled beyond our borders, it is one of the greatest to do so.” Commercial success Olukanni, music marketer and Head of A&R at Soundhalla: “Whenever you listen to Odun Nlo Sopin by the CAC Good Women Choir, you will automatically be switched into a nostalgic realm. “Living in Jos made it more special because would advocate for it to be part of the setlist in school.” It’s more poignant as she grew up in northern Nigeria. ![]() READ MORE Revisiting five legendary African songs that made music history In school, we looked forward to singing carols and doing Christmas presentations,” she says. “I remember hearing the song on the radio. Today, the youth culture and Afrobeats era have christened it “Detty December.”įor people like Nigerian singer-songwriter Aramide, who grew up in the 1980s and 90s, Odun Nlo Sopin was inescapable. An annual music traditionĬhristmas in Nigeria is a truly special time. Odun Nlo Sopin was originally recorded in 1977 and released as their fifth album in 1979. Soon, the choir became a huge draw to services, and in time, they began to record albums for mass release. Their role was to accompany the sermons and prayer sessions, a task they took seriously. I think every artist should strive towards creating a timeless body of work, something that people will forever refer to. It was a mass choir of nearly 300 women, some of them wives of the clergy, but many more were regular members. It was against this backdrop that the Good Women’s Choir was founded in 1975. It was a fiery group that had come out of The Apostolic Church who believed in the efficacy of loud, passionate prayers and that the world was in existential danger, both from external crises and familiar African traditional beliefs that were antithetical to the Christian faith.Īlthough the CAC leadership consisted mainly of men, women played significant roles in its processes, such as lay-readers and choristers, and were encouraged to join the maternally Good Women’s Association. It was in the period that the Christ Apostolic Church reached its peak, having been founded around 1941 in the Yoruba southwest of the country. Several religious sects and denominations that previously were on the periphery experienced a rise as people chose to place their faith in God rather than in Nigeria’s volatile leadership. I would like to use this medium to thank Nigerians, both home and abroad, for extending their love to us by responding positively to the new versions,” she said.READ MORE Nigeria's Yemi Alade: ‘Music serves as a bridge between Africa and the rest of the world’ ![]() “I can also tell you authoritatively that the song’s acceptance since its release through the number of downloads, streaming, likes and views on all our social media platforms and designated music stores has been very great. People have been saying things like, ‘This is long overdue’, ‘God bless you for extending the blessing in the song to other tribes’, ‘Now, Odun Nlo Sopin will remain forever’ and ‘This song will unite Nigeria like never before’. “The responses we have got have been awesome, especially from the Hausa and Igbo communities in Nigeria and in the Diaspora. The audio and lyrics video of the song have been released, while the music video will be out soon.”įasoyin, who turned 80 earlier in the year, noted that the new versions of the song have been well received. That was the reason Berachah Music put together Odun Nlo Sopin ‘ Wazobia version’ to extend the blessings to all by translating it into the other two major languages in Nigeria― Hausa and Igbo. Although people of other tribes listen to the song and ‘flow’ with it, that was not enough to make them have a deeper encounter with the power in the song because they did not fully understand the language. However, it should not have been limited to the Yoruba tribe. She told Sunday Scoop, “For over 40 years, Odun Nlo Sopin has been a song with divine supernatural covering, mostly sang in the Yoruba-speaking part of the country when the year is running to an end. The leader of the respected Christ Apostolic Church’s Good Women Choir, Ibadan, Deborah Fasoyin, has said she decided to make Igbo and Hausa versions of their iconic song, Odun Nlo Sopin, because it should not be limited to Yoruba language alone.
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