Song: My Story
Artiste: Josepth Matthew
Producer: Francis Osei
Author of Review: Kwame Dadzie
Introduction: A United Kingdom-based Ghanaian gospel musician, Joseph Matthew aka JM, tells his touching story of God’s Grace on his life, in his third single.
Instrumentation and Production: Recorded live and produced by award-winning instrumentalist Francis Osei, the song titled ‘My Story’ is a potpourri of rich African rhythms tinged with a contemporary swag. It is no wonder that he describes himself as “a Ghanaian Afro gospel artiste with a distinctive contemporary sound — a mixture of Ghanaian highlife, contemporary Afrobeats and rap.” He depicts exactly that in ‘My Story.’
The instrumentation makes use of the drum kit, hour-glass drum (dondo), percussions, rattle, clappers, guitars, the keyboard and invites strong kicks to complement its contemporary vibe.
The piano intro and the horn interspersion set the tone for a pleasurable listening expedition.
The baseline also speaks its own glorious language in the storytelling process. It strums so deep that one cannot help but pause at a point to just pay attention to it.
Undoubtedly, this is quality production which will stand the test of time.
Vocal Delivery: Sung in Key F Major, JM brings the smooth texture of his vocal timbre to bear as he oscillates between different styles of singing, having soothingly harmonious support from the backing vocalists.
He also adds a hip hop vibe by delivering a few lines of rap in the background.
His ad-libs in the coda are very impressive; that really brings out a lot in Joseph Matthew and proves his vocal dexterity.
Message: JM basically talks about how good God has been to his life.
Don’t know nobody
Deserves all the glory
The things you do for me
Give you the praise
The chorus above steeps into JM’s account that he was never born Holy but God still cared for him even in the wake of his many sins.
Even though predominantly done in English, he adds a few Twi lines at the end of the second verse.
The message is not extraordinary. If you have listened to a lot of Gospel songs, there is the possibility that you may have come across about a thousand and one songs with the same theme and content. However, for many Christians the issue of salvation and God’s Grace is always heralded because it fulfils the purpose of the religion; to demonstrate the power of God and his ability to make the impossible come to fruition.
Video Credit: The video was directed by Martin Sean, another award-winning music video director based in the United Kingdom.
Rating: I rate ‘My Story’ by Joseph Matthew 80% for the entire composition and production.
About Joseph Matthew: Born into a Christian music family in Tema, Joseph quickly learnt to play various musical instruments from a tender age and sang in the church choir which was led and directed by his father.
He then went on to play in the church band where he had the opportunity to develop his skills further and realised his vocal gifts.
In his early teenage years, JM had developed into a unique rapper, singer and songwriter who gained immense attention from many.
As a result, he has performed and worked alongside many artists from different genres including hip-hop, RnB, Afro beats, reggae and gospel due to the versatility of his style.
JM caught the attention and was featured in a local magazine in 2007 after a captivating performance at Stratford Rex London.
In 2009, JM felt a profound call on his life back into gospel music and the church and has since been a key member of his church choir.
He released his debut single track ‘Hallelujah’ in January 2019,’Nyame Ye’ another smashing hit song in April 2019 and now out with ‘My Story’.
All these will feature on his long-awaited gospel album (Solid Rock) which he intends to release in 2021.
