Ghana experienced yet another electrifying music concert on Easter Friday, 3rd April 2015, as Nigerian gospel music sensations Nathaniel Bassey and Uche Agu thrilled the audience with a wild praise and worship marathon on the Harvest Praise 2015 stage at the Accra International Conference Center.
Their Ghanaian counterparts who performed included Accra’s most celebrated urbane praise group – Harvest Gospel Choir, Winneba Youth Choir, and the emerging gospel music diva Kakra Nartey, all delivering performances aimed to live up to the historic show.
With its huge following, Harvest Praise ran a double show – an afternoon session at 1:30pm and an evening session at 6pm – to accommodate its loyal followers.
Harvest Praise, which was then in its 17th year, was Ghana’s pioneering brand organizing church community in an interdenominational setting through a feast of the best local and international music, drama, and other entertaining genres.
The program had blazed the trail for what has today become a cocktail of gospel music concerts splashed across the country.
Gospel music lovers had trusted the Harvest Praise brand for the exhilarating experience it offered patrons – a total family experience for the family conscious.
A big attraction was their children’s version of the program, HP Kids, which was introduced the previous year and promised a mega package with kid’s talent shows, quizzes, giveaways, all based on solid biblical teachings. However, it was only available during the evening session.
Tickets had been sold at various points including Citi FM, Sweet Melodies, Sunny FM, and others.
The Harvest Praise experience was the brainchild of Harvest International Ministries, used as a contemporary evangelical tool to extend the reach of the gospel, the love, and healing grace of God, shared abroad and to spiritually refresh the body of Christ.
Harvest Praise had also been an ambitious platform for many talented artists locally and internationally. The best of Ghana’s gospel musicians had been discovered and nurtured by Harvest Praise, including Daughters of Glorious Jesus, Diana Hamilton, Phillipa Berfi, Quessi Oteng, Danny Nettey, Cynthia Maccauley, Yaw Antwi Dadzie, and Christiana Love, among others.
American gospel music maestro, the late Andrew Couch, South Africa’s worship heartthrob Benjamin Dube, Darwin Hobbs, Bob Fitts, and recently Kurt Carr had all graced the Harvest Praise stage at one time or another.
The Harvest Praise Planning Committee had been highly optimistic that year’s package held too much value than promised.
Their commitment to draw in people living with disabilities to share in the HP experience had remained intact and likely saw bigger representation of this group. Daniel Adjei, chairman of the Committee, had held a lot of more interesting attractions for the Good Friday show close to his chest.
The spotless organization of Harvest Praise, its acclaimed hallmark, had been tested once again with the athletic performance of the Nigerian team.
Looking within the subregion for collaboration had been welcomed news – a smart move to tap into the strong social bonds between Ghana and Nigeria, creating great expectations for the Easter Friday, 3rd April 2015 show at the Accra International Conference Center!
