Barbados’ premier female Christian artiste, and one of the most decorated in the Caribbean, will on Sunday debut her fifth studio album, Grace, the title track that encapsulates the experiences from her 13 years of professional singing and songwriting.

Tracks from Neesha Neesha Woodz Wooding’s 13-song album will take the audience that turns out for the concert at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre down memory lane, back to the present and into the future.

They will also be able to savour a wide offering of musical genres that include soca, reggae and Afrobeats, as well as dance, spoken word, worship and giveaways.

History will also be created when Neesha shares the same stage with two Christian reggae award-winning powerhouses from Tobago – Joel Positive Murray, one of the most successful regional artistes, and Tyronne Blessed Messenger Dominic Walter, the 2021 Sterling Gospel Music Awards Caribbean Artiste of the Year. Blessed Messenger, who collaborates with Neesha on one of her album tracks, Heaven, will perform the song with her at Sunday’s concert.

The icing on the cake will come from local performers Gozzy, Faith Butcher, Ruel Lynch, Fabian McDonald and KL Dance Movement.

Ahead of her album launch, Neesha noted that the survival of gospel artistes and the music will depend on Barbadians’ continued support.

“When you look across the scope of the gospel industry, the gospel community in Barbados, there are only a few faces that keep recurring or that are consistent. A lot of the reasons why there may be faces that are not as consistent is that sometimes people feel as though they have lack of support,” said the local queen of gospel who – inspired by a divine call – quit her office job just over a decade ago to go pro.

“Now, if we want to keep the gospel industry alive and well and flowing, the gospel community, first and foremost, must ensure that they support the ones who are trying… the ones who are putting out music…because it is not easy or is it cheap to keep bringing out music.”

The multiple award winner, who also plays keyboard and drums, added: “You bring out music in the hope that these particular songs would be able then to minister to the same gospel community and to people who are not Christians as well. So that support is needed to be able to continue the work, and to continue on the path that God has called us as ministers to take.”

Neesha, who is the principal worship team leader at the Cave Hill Wesleyan Holiness Church, also has a message for patrons who attend her concert.

“I want people to come and have fun for sure,” she said, “but more so than that, I want people to be ministered to. I want people to bring somebody in their family, bring a co-worker, a neighbour, somebody they have been praying for, somebody that is not saved…because we want to see souls saved as well at that concert.”

The gospel singer also said that as at previous events, she looks forward to people being healed, encouraged and delivered from various struggles and problems in their lives through the power of ministry in song and other forms of worship.

It is that power of music that helps to inspire her song writing.

“The power of music is such that it can unite a people. The power of music is such that even if you don’t like an individual song, just being able to hear the beat, sometimes you can’t stop yourself from tapping your feet or humming along. But even more so, especially with gospel music, the power comes in the gospel, the good news, the lyrics themselves, within the music,” declared the artiste who is known for such hits as Fyah Fall, So Amazing, Volume, I Can Feel It, Adrenaline, Fyah Fyah and Defenda.

With more than 60 released singles and hundreds more unpublished self-penned songs in her repertoire, Neesha explained that any challenges she may be facing with the continued commercial production of music would be of a financial nature and not for lack of material.

Nangona kunjalo, after three years of consistent releases, she is planning to take a break, for an undetermined time, to recharge and come again.

That break will happen after Sunday’s concert which starts at 6:30 p.m.

But she was quick to point out that the Holy Spirit could intervene and change those plans.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

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