Over the years, gospel music has been pigeonholed, and even those who have tried revitalising the genre have been held back. It would take some very strong-willed people to give Ghana a much-needed fresh perspective on gospel music and usher the sound into a contemporary era.
Team Eternity Ghana, a collective formed ten years ago, is one of the contemporary gospel acts elevating and amplifying the message of salvation through music. A blend of vocalists, writers, instrumentalists, composers, and creatives, the group is bound by their shared vision to evangelise, spreading a message of hope, love and faith through their compositions and medleys.
The collective has been a prominent fixture in the Ghanaian gospel scene since 2017 when they dropped their debut album Extra Baskets. But even with an established fan base of believers and non-believers, with a recent single, Team Eternity Ghana declared a marked evolution in their sound. In December 2023, in the lead-up to the release of their 2024 album Testimony, the team dropped “Yes Sir,” an unexpected Amapiano hit. The album was already a topic of discussion online before it had even dropped on May 1, by the time it was released it had fully divided the conversation on gospel music in Ghana. Despite dividing the internet – or because of it – Team Eternity Ghana’s song “Defe Defe” currently holds the number 1 spot on Ghana’s Apple Music Top 100 chart – actually, all 14 songs on their 14-track album occupy positions on the chart.
Team Eternity Ghana speaks to iMullar about the album, their mission, and how they deal with all those online discussions.
Let us start from the beginning. For people who do not know about you, who is Team Eternity Ghana? Is it a church? Is it a person?
Team Eternity Ghana is a collective, as you said, that spreads the Gospel using music. That’s fundamentally who we are, just a music group with an agenda. To spread the Gospel and reach the nations with God’s Word. We are not a church. We all attend different churches, but we are joined together by a common vision that we are all Christians, and we want to see God’s Kingdom expanded. It’s just a group of talented musicians who have dedicated their lives to spreading the Gospel through music.
You are a group of different people coming together under the umbrella of Christ. But how do you all deal with the diverse personalities that come into play?
When it comes to handling diversity, that’s one of our strongholds. The diversity has given us more strength and a taste of every bit of what we do. We have people from the Church of Pentecost, the Catholic Church, and others from pure charismatic backgrounds. The different backgrounds in music: choral, contemporary and everything else, come together to give us a stronghold. So in this diversity, there’s a stronghold.
Growing up, there was Tema Youth Choir, Soul Winners, No Tribe, and other powerful collectives and groups. How influential were these people in the formation of Team Eternity Ghana?
The message has still not changed. It’s still Jesus from day one. Take our president, for example. He understands the ministry bit of things and the industry and what goes into it. So if you ask what makes us different from the other groups you mentioned, it will be just the drive and the kind of vision that Team Eternity Ghana has to push the gospel and the message of Jesus to young people. Because, as people say, the youth of every country are the future. Even with that agenda, we have songs that appeal more to the elderly as well.
Earlier this year, you put out your single “My Reason” and then followed it up with your third album “Testimony”. Before we delve into the new album, how would you describe the reception of gospel music in Ghana?
Ghanaian gospel music has a niche market, and this album has transcended that niche. We are finding people who are not necessarily believers or regular listeners of gospel music who are interested in our work and in the message we are sharing. So it’s been a great honour because there’s been a certain perception that gospel music is a certain kind of way. We have been trying to break that stereotype and be different. There is an Amapiano, choral and an operatic touch to the album. If you look at the places where these songs are being played, we envision a time when “Defe Defe” will be played at a club and touch lives in the process.
Moving on, let us talk about “Testimony”. Listening to the album, there are a lot of elements and sounds involved. How long did it take to put this entire album together? What challenges did you have to overcome in putting this project together?
It would be cliché to say that it was a smooth process, but God has been faithful. God has been with us through six months of numerous rehearsals, and sharing ideas, and that’s the wonderful thing about Team Eternity Ghana. It has been fun; it’s been insightful; it’s been educational. It’s been a whole creative journey. Though it was challenging, the diversity and having everybody with different backgrounds made things eventually come out great. This particular album sort of takes gospel out of its comfort zone. We could anticipate the conversations this album would particularly drive. We didn’t even break a sweat because it was from a place of family, a place of ministry, a place of togetherness, oneness. And every single rehearsal was committed to God in prayer. So there’s also tapping into the creativeness of God. That’s the beauty of the expressive nature of God.
There is one song that seems to stand out, which is currently the number one song on Apple Music Ghana, “Defe Defe”. What was the feeling when you saw the songs climb up the charts? You rarely come across gospel music charting that high and that many on the charts, so one would ask, What did you put in your stew?
It might sound hard to believe if we say that we didn’t have any grand promotional strategy or that we didn’t pay any bloggers or didn’t have any challenges on TikTok but that’s the actual truth. We made the music, and we committed it to God. We had our plans, but God magnified it greatly. He is the one who’s carrying it. We can’t explain it. If any of us is to say, Oh, let’s think about it, how? What has happened? Why has it happened? I don’t think we can. We also don’t get it. We knew our songs were good, but none of us envisioned this level of traction. The name of the album, “Testimony”, was given by God. And I think he just wanted to make a statement with it.
What were some expectations listed by the team when the project was being put together, and would you say the expectations are being met so far despite it being early days?
We woke up to the album being out already. People even announced the album before we did because we had sent it for review and were expecting feedback as to whether it was live. We were confused and wondered how we would handle the PR. But the truth is, it’s actually been a huge blessing. For levels of expectation, we were just hoping that as we’ve dropped the album, it will bless a lot of people. So we prayed. The prayer was key. And now it is doing that and doing even better—far more than we expected. Even now, we’re having surprises because I know somebody who would not even want to get close to gospel music. But guess what? He’s sleeping in bed with “Defe Defe”. The team itself has seen some testimonies that we were not thinking about. There was a need we’ve had in our hearts to have a website. And then we just had someone reach out. “You know what? I just want to handle this for the sake of the team. I just want to do it at no cost.”
As much as the collective is ministry-focused, a part of what you do is heavily rooted in the music business. Looking at the state of Ghana’s music industry currently, how do you balance ministry and the dealings of the industry?
We have help coming from some people on the team. It just creates the perfect balance between our music and the industry. Our team, by God’s grace, has some very skilled musicians. Everyone on the team is on their A-game. We have these various perspectives that can help fine-tune everything and produce very top-notch stuff, from the vocals to the instruments.. And because we give our 100 percent and our best effort, the result produces good-quality stuff.
Looking at how well the album is currently doing, what should we expect from Team Eternity Ghana? Perhaps an open verse for “Defe Defe”? Dance Challenge for “Testimony” and “Yes Sir”? Are there any tours in the pipeline?
We are in awe. We just want to say that you guys should expect something. We just want this to be a surprise. A surprise is coming. So, just expect something. We know it’s going to be beautiful.
If there is anyone out there reading this or who has been following what you do, especially Christian creatives who are conflicted on how to navigate the industry, what would you tell them?
We didn’t just spring up recently. So it’s taken a lot of consistent hard work, keeping at it, and improving ourselves. If you take some of our videos from ten years ago, the quality of the music has drastically improved over time. So it’s about committing yourself to the craft, growing, and then making sure that you are in the will of God. You are listening to what he’s saying, and you are doing it the way he’s leading. And it’s not an overnight thing.
What last words do you have for people who follow you and will read this?
One part of the conversation we want people to know is that it’s been ten years coming. If somebody told our president (Nii Larte Lartey) that, you know, in a decade, you’d have this level of reach, he would say, “Oh, Chale, now let’s give it like 20 years.” But guess what? God is doing it now. And it’s only because he stuck to the vision. We come together as a team, hold on to that vision, and propagate the gospel, especially to the youth, which is the focus. God is not a God who can be boxed. He has his own creative spectrum. It cannot be defined from end to end. So that’s the beauty of our journey as Christian creatives. We are very grateful for the massive support. We are grateful for all of you, and we are excited that you join us on our journey of spreading the gospel and praising God. We are excited about what the future holds, and we just want you to keep an eye on Team Eternity Ghana. You’re going to see more wonderful things come from this camp.
We also want to say a big thank you to our Executive Producers, Ultimate Music Group, who have been a huge support of our ministry and came in at a very timely moment to push the ministry. We say God bless you to them. Thank you also for giving us your platform. We are grateful for the opportunity. God bless you.
Written by Nana Kojo Mula
