How Josiah Ransome-Kuti, First Nigerian to Record an Album, Pioneered Nigerian Gospel Music

Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti, grandfather to the legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, was a formidable figure whose influence on Nigerian music is still felt today. He was a bold innovator who, through his life and work, laid the foundation for modern Nigerian gospel music and left an indelible mark on the country’s broader musical landscape. This blog post explores Ransome-Kuti’s life, his revolutionary approach to music, and the enduring legacy he left behind.

Born in Abeokuta in 1855, Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti’s childhood was a study in contrasts. His mother, Anne Efupeyin, was a devout Christian and one of Abeokuta’s first converts to the faith. His father, Kuti, on the other hand, was a renowned musician in the Igbein quarters of Abeokuta and a staunch opponent of Christianity. This clash of beliefs created a difficult home environment, and Ransome-Kuti’s early years were marked by a continuous “pull in two different directions”.

Despite his father’s anti-Christian sentiments, Kuti played a crucial role in shaping his son’s musical journey. He regularly took young Josiah to participate in festivities at fetish groves, introducing him to the “mysteries of music” used in the worship of Yoruba deities. This early exposure to traditional Yoruba music, combined with his mother’s Christian faith, would later become the bedrock of Ransome-Kuti’s groundbreaking musical style.

Ransome-Kuti’s formal musical education began in the late 1860s at the CMS Training Institute in Abeokuta, a school with a strong reputation for musical training. He excelled in his studies, a testament to his natural talent. He continued his training at the CMS Training Institute in Lagos in the early 1870s and, after graduating, began his career as a music teacher at the CMS Female Institution in Lagos. His prowess on the piano and harmonium and his fine singing voice made him a well-known figure in Lagos’s high society, where he regularly performed at concerts and social events in the 1880s.

Ransome-Kuti’s passion for music was so intense that his superiors worried it would prevent him from becoming a respectable parish pastor. Even his future father-in-law, Daniel Olubi, was initially hesitant to approve his marriage due to this all-consuming passion. However, they couldn’t have been more wrong.

After leaving the Lagos music scene in 1887 to start a church in Abeokuta, Ransome-Kuti underwent a radical transformation. By the time his name reappeared in public journals in 1894, he had not only added his father’s name, “Kuti,” to his surname but had also completely changed his musical outlook. He had become disillusioned with the “snobbish, overly Europeanised outlook of the educated class” and the church’s reliance on European-style music, which he believed was preventing the gospel message from reaching the majority of people.

This awakening led him to a revolutionary approach: he would use music to bridge the gap between Christianity and Yoruba culture. While many European missionaries of the time denounced traditional customs and music as “heathenish,” Ransome-Kuti was determined to follow his own path. He rejected the bias against Yoruba life that was based on “European sensibilities” rather than any inherent paganism. This independent thinking, which was considered “radical in his day,” would define the rest of his career.

Ransome-Kuti’s new musical style was a bold fusion of European church music and traditional Yoruba cultural elements. He incorporated chants, folk tunes, poetry, idioms, and native instruments into his compositions in a way no one had ever done before. His music was not just an adaptation; it was a powerful tool for evangelism, forged in the “fires of evangelistic encounters” and designed to connect with the soul of his people.

He would often use the marketplace as his “battlefield,” singing tunes that he knew the local people loved but with Christian words set to the music. Sometimes, he even set Christian words to tunes he had learned in fetish groves as a child. This audacious approach was rooted in a deep understanding and appreciation of the Yoruba language, symbols, history, and customs.

One of his most famous songs, “Oyigiyigi l’Olorun Wa,” is a perfect example of this. It was an adaptation of a melody and words used by ancient Ifa worshippers. The original line, “Oyigiyigi ota omi o,” referred to the enduring nature of sea pebbles in Yoruba mythology. Ransome-Kuti ingeniously adapted it to “Oyigiyigi l’Olorun wa o; oyigiyigi Oba aiku; oyigiyigi l’Olorun wa,” capturing God’s majestic and immortal nature using an idiom and imagery that Yorubas could immediately understand and connect with.

His music also challenged social norms. In “Keferi e wa wo oba wa o,” he used the structure of a traditional taunt song to challenge idol worshippers. In “Oba a ba ke, awa o ke,” he made an emotional appeal, and in “Jesu Olugbala ni mo f’ori fun,” he sought to undermine faith in traditional Yoruba deities. This strategic use of music helped him found twenty-five churches in Egbaland in just sixteen years, a major feat for the time.

In June 1922, while in England for a missionary exhibition, Ransome-Kuti took the initiative to record his songs. He spent three weeks at the Gramophone Company’s studio in Hayes, Middlesex, recording over forty songs with piano accompaniment. The recordings, released on the Zonophone record label, became a historic milestone. According to the liner notes, he made the records “so that the Sacred Songs of his own composition, and other records of interest, may be available to all Yoruba speaking people”.

While the recordings, with their powerful and distinct sound, didn’t fully capture the energy and spontaneity of his live performances—lacking the accompaniment of native instruments and backing vocalists—they preserved his musical legacy for generations to come. These recordings, which included standards like “Egbe Awon Angeli” and “Oyigiyigi l’Olorun wa,” solidified his place in history.

Ransome-Kuti’s bold and innovative spirit helped push the boundaries of what was considered acceptable church music in his day. He is widely regarded as the father of Nigerian gospel music and the first Nigerian to record an album. His legacy gave the next generation of Christian musicians the freedom to confidently create music using cultural elements.

The history of Nigerian gospel music can be traced back to the liturgical music introduced by Portuguese Catholic missionaries in the 16th century. However, it wasn’t until the arrival of the CMS in the 19th century and the pioneering work of Ransome-Kuti that a truly Nigerian version of gospel music began to take shape.

Ransome-Kuti’s influence paved the way for other pioneers, such as I. O. Harcour white, who created choral music in the Igbo language in the 1930s. By the 1950s and 60s, the trend of incorporating traditional music forms with choral music became popular and spread across Nigeria. Soon, traditional instruments were integrated, and the genre continued to evolve.

In the following decades, gospel music artists continued to innovate. The folk and country-inspired Caris band of the University of Nigeria in the 1970s and Chris Okotie’s pop-to-gospel conversion in the 1980s are testaments to this evolution. The 1990s saw a new wave of Nigerian gospel artists, such as Sam Adejumo, Tope Alabi, and Broom Martin, who, inspired by American gospel stars like Kirk Franklin, helped spread the gospel beyond the confines of the church.

Today, Nigerian gospel music is a powerful force, with artists gaining international recognition. This is exemplified by the success of songs like Sinach’s “Way Maker,” which spent seven weeks at number one on Billboard’s Christian songwriters chart, and the sampling of a popular Nigerian praise song by Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child on her single “Say Yes”.

From the humble beginnings in Abeokuta to the international stage, the journey of Nigerian gospel music is a story of faith, innovation, and cultural pride. It’s a story that starts with one man, Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti, who dared to fuse his faith with his heritage, forever changing the sound of worship and music in Nigeria.