“His Mercy” showcases the beautiful willingness of a competent artiste giving their best quality to the source of all art, the endless one in whose endlessness we are renewed.
By Emmanuel Esomnofu
There’s no one like God, that much is true. However, the purpose of the gospel, and its musical form, is to make that known. To shout that belief in the unshakable presence of the Lord from the rooftops as readily as from the depths of human perception. Only when we have done this would we be deserving partakers in the mercy of God. Over the years of her career, the Nigerian artiste Peace Sunday has embodied this mutual creative relationship between God and those he’s put in the world to proclaim His Mercy.
Not coincidentally, Peace Sunday’s latest record is titled “His Mercy”, a composition which subtly captures her years of practice as a singer. In-tune with the sonic framing of contemporary gospel music, the tone here is ethereal, ecclesiastical, and undeniably evocative. Right from the drums and violin strings which pronounce the song’s opening, one feels a divine swirling within them, almost like a hand leading you to the gates of salvation.
I would always make the point that the best gospel artistes, much like their secular counterparts, also have to deliver on pristine musicianship. No matter that the thematic aspiration is to imbibe holiness in the listener, that process must be bolstered by the careful organisation of musical elements. To Peace Sunday’s credit, she doesn’t scoff over this important detail.
The music on “His Mercy” progresses from that touch between drums and violin, with soft piano notes taking up space underneath those two. As it should, Peace Sunday’s voice also acts as an instrument here, conducting the other sounds in her act of praise-giving.
“For the Lord is good, and His Mercies endureth forever”, she sings over and over again, capturing the limitless joy of the love she proclaims. Whereas a lesser singer would have made this selection of lines sound tired, it is the strength and dynamism of Peace Sunday that, at each point where it seems to be burning cold, she picks up the fire, working up a new heat, singing in varied pitches.
At some point, the trained listener (like the present writer) would no doubt suspect that she’s likewise professionally trained, and a glance through her promising resume confirms that. A soprano artiste, Peace Sunday has undergone years of choral and classical performance, which no doubt have sharpened her voice and ears, knowing just the right tone to use for a song, knowing just the right tones to shift across within a particular song. It’s not an everyday skill. It’s the mark of the discipline artiste.
“His Mercy” showcases the beautiful willingness of a competent artiste giving their best quality to the source of all art, the endless one in whose endlessness we are renewed.
Emmanuel Esomnofu is a Nigerian writer and culture journalist. He was awarded Best Writer of 2024 by The Republic and was named among the 30 Under 30 Power Players in Nigerian Music by Turntable. He’s working on his debut manuscript.