Liverpool man launches Gospel Music Project to tackle poverty following life changing medical condition

A powerful new gospel music event is set to bring the community together and uplift the spirit of Liverpool this December. 

Gospel Music Against Poverty (GOMAP) will debut as an annual event at Love Assembly on Steble Street in Liverpool, showcasing an incredible line-up of local gospel talent.

Presented by Tigon Music in partnership with the Liverpool Ark Discovery Centre (LADC), this free event will use the healing power of gospel music to make a positive impact on lives and bring hope to the community.

The event is the brainchild of Ayotunde “AJ” Falana – a former LIPA student and a volunteer co-founder of Leading Support For Humanity (LSFH) – the parent social enterprise of Tigon Music who have organised this exciting night of Gospel Music with LADC.

LSFH uses projects powered by the arts to tackle multiple deprivation and poverty in Liverpool, the North West and beyond. The main deprivations they focus on tackling are the lack of skills and training in the music industry; terminal illness and children with physical disabilities; homelessness; and child poverty.

The rest of the LSFH team are made up of international evangelist, Pastor Herman Thystre; award-winning fashion designer, Tayameaca Hughes and Operations Director, Jospeh Ngugi.

When AJ was admitted to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for three months with a condition that left him with serious physical challenges and as a wheelchair user, he thought that ‘he was never going to come out of the hospital alive’. But a timely visit from a pair of Christian evangelists turned his life around.

AJ said: 

“I was blessed with both a good medical team and mental health team at the Royal and fortunately for me I got out of the hospital alive. The visit from those evangelists came on the night I thought would be my last. After opening my heart to them, I made a convenance with my God that I will set up an event and a project to magnify His name.”

AJ intends to tell the full story of his time in hospital and the visit that changed everything for him at the event on 7th December. He hopes his testimony and the formation of GOMAP will inspire others.

He added: 

“Whatever you are doing in life; great stories are made when a man or a woman refuses to give up and continues going on no matter what the situation. Just keep going on. I don’t want my disability to stand in my way of my ability. I want to make a positive difference in my community; it’s a form of escape from me and helps keep my sanity. By touching and changing other people’s lives, that’s where I gain my satisfaction from,  even though I don’t have the strength to do it all year round. My passion is to make a difference.”

One of AJ’s main aims with GOMAP is to take unemployed, poor and disadvantaged youths that have a passion for music away from the potential of joining organised crime groups.

AJ said: 

“GOMAP is designed and developed to transform the GANG concept to “God’s Anointed Next Generation”. Instead of the criminal gang concept, GOMAP uses gospel music to put them on the right track and from the dark side of the road to the bright side of the road. To drop their knives and pick up the mic; to get off the street and in to the studio to discover their hidden talents.

“We’re using the phenomenal power of Gospel music as a Poverty Reduction Strategy. We want GOMAP to be a positive inspirational force to empower youths, especially those who are from disadvantage backgrounds and those facing challenges in our communities to help them reach their full potentials as Gospel music artists.

“Gospel music itself transcends genre. It existed before genres in the music industry were created as we know them today. That’s why you can find it in the likes of reggae, jazz, R&B, pop and so on. It encourages unity and creates community togetherness rather than tension. It also promotes inclusion and helps build bridges between different alienated groups of people in the community.”

The concert will be headlined by by Gospel rapper, actor and content creator, Noah Olaoye aka Nunodaman. The scouse star has appeared regularly on the likes of Coronation Street and A League Of Their Own has amassed over 400,000 followers on TikTok through his comedy sketches.

Joining Noah on the line-up is Love Assembly’s Sapphire; singer-songwriter, Beulah; star of The Voice, Daisy Gill; instrumentalist drummer, H-MAN; Pastor Walter & The Sound Of Dominion Church Choirs; and soulful pianist and singer, Afrika Fuentes.

The launch event of GOMAP – Gospel Music Against Poverty will take place on Saturday 7th December 2024, 6:30pm at Love Assembly, Steble Street, L8 6QH. Entrance is free with donations welcome.

For more info on Gospel Music Against Poverty click here.

For all the latest events throughout Liverpool City Region click here.