SHARON MBI – A Message of Gratitude “Love Song”
STAR
BOULEVARD With Beryl-Ann Achoh
The Love of God strengthens ones’attitude
to live a fulfilling lifestyle. Sharon Mbi started singing at a young age and
has been a worship leader since at the age of 16. But this never motivated her
into following the path of becoming a minister of worship and a gospel
recording artist. In the years of 2017
to 2019 Sharon faced a series of challenges that brought her close to God where
she felt the God’s love towards her. Only then did Sharon hid to the calling of
becoming a minister of worship and a gospel recording artist. As someone who
struggles with depression anxiety, Sharon sings to soothe those who find
themselves in the same situations. Her ministration comes from a place of deep
surrender and brokenness. As a testimony to her community Sharon meets with
Star Boulevard to tell her journey of discovery, revival and freedom, giving us
the insights on her love story with God and her love for gospel songs.
Congratulations on the release of your
new album ‘7 Songs from Heaven’. Can you give us a little background about yourself?
Thank you. I am a wife and a mother of three. A registered Psychiatric Nurse by profession and
I am a Cameroonian by birth from the region called Bafia. I moved to the United
States of America in my late teens and I presently reside in California with my
husband and our three children.
What drew you into music?
My first
influence into music came from my mother. At an early age she would deliberately
teach me songs and explain the meaning behind their lyrics. I am come from a heritage
of musical background. I am the last born of 7 children with nearly every
member of my family having some sort of an interest in music be it singing or
playing a musical instrument.The family I grew up with loved music, but this
did not speak to me until I began to work as a psychiatric nurse then I
discovered that there was something special about the songs God had given me. I
would sing these songs to the patients I took care of and they would
immediately become calm and experience the same peace that I experienced from
my songs.
How would you describe the music that
you create and what is the creating process like?
I call my
music Afro- western music to soothe the oppressed soul. I am inspired by the
heavy drum beats and rhythms of my African heritage but also drawn to the
metallic sounds of the electric guitar, violins and saxophones of the western
culture (as you can tell from my first single “Love Song” in which I feature an
electric guitar solo). My music seeks to combine the two worlds in a soothing
melodic way or in a dance rhythmical way (again which one would experience when
listening to “Love Song”). You will notice that on every song of the album
there is a prominent instrument. For example. “Worship Song” which is still to
be released, combines violin and drum sounds with a focus on the violin. “Joy
Song” features the Saxophone predominantly. I believe that each instrument
carries a special and specific anointing to drive away certain demonic spirits
from the atmosphere in/or around the listener. I always get a revelation from
God as to what instrument and why He (God) wants to feature in a song.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
From God.
I get most of my songs in my dreams. I wake up singing them. Others I get when
I am in what I call my secret place, my early morning prayer devotion time or
midnight devotion time. The rest of them are birthed as I struggle free of
demonic oppression. Let me explain this - so, I would have had hours of a panic
attack episode/depression heaviness lethargy etc (after being assaulted by a
demonic spirit in my dreams the night before) or what I call “a spirit spouse
attack”. In an attempt to end the attack with the enemy in warfare prayer and
scripture, the words and the lyrics of a song would just start to pour out of
my mouth and as the words and melodies come in, the oppression would stop. As I
sing the song repeatedly, I would find that I am back to myself. This was the
case with my 2nd single which I will be releasing on June 30th
called. JOY SONG.
Why the title ‘7 Songs from Heaven’? Has
it got a certain meaning to you? Also tell us about the songs in the album,
especially ‘LOVE SONG’.
YES! I
wanted to call my first album that because as I explained before, so far, I
have never deliberately written a song. I believe the songs are given to me by
God. I get them with their melodies and most of their lyrics already assigned
to them. However, the finished product
incorporates some fine tuning done by the producers I work with as well as my
husband lol. He is very particular about not letting my flesh spill into the
lyrics. Love Song is one of the songs I got in my dreams. Love song is a song
meant to establish Isaiah 54:5 which states that born-again Christians are
married to or in covenant with our creator Jehovah God and he is our spouse.
The lyrics of “Love Song” allows the Christian to worship God from the place of
his bride which sets the stage for deliverance from any other demonic spirits
that may be claiming a covenant with them.
From being a psychiatrist nurse, a
working mother who supported the family to becoming a minister of worship and a
gospel recording artist. How did you manage joggling between these three –
family, ministry of worship and gospel recording artist?
Lol! Lots
of late nights! Releasing a single and working on the release of an album is
but the tip of the iceberg of my journey so far. Most of the work was done in
moulding me into becoming a worship minister. That was the hardest part of my
journey and I believe it took God a lot of years to achieve. That said I have
always been conscious of the fact that it is God, my husband, my children,
worship ministry then gospel recording artist. I am very conscious of the fact
that if I do not keep these things in the right order they will crash. I am
very deliberate about what I call my “Secret place” quiet prayer time and bible
study with God as well as fasting at least once a week. This is how I cope and
keep myself showing up and being present in all the roles that have been
assigned to me.
Did you ever feel like giving up at any
time? If so, how did you deal with that?
Yes, I
have felt like giving up many times. It is not easy to be a wife and a mother
of 3 and have to accept bookings, run to the studio, manage a ministry, edit
videos, maintain social media etc. The most difficult part was fighting the
demons of oppression and fear which would not let me get up from bed and take a
shower let alone get on a stage to sing. Despite the opposition, God has always
surrounded me with my loving and supportive husband and people care and encourage
me and pray for me on my difficult days. Then there is the fact that my first
son Aiden is my pianist, and this really makes things so much easier for me. He
is only 8 years old and has been playing for me since he was 5. This one thing
reminds me that all what I am doing has been God’s plan all along. He is so
passionate about playing for me and going on gigs with me. He cries when I must
be accompanied by another pianist. This keeps me motivated because I remember
that I am also doing what I do for him. Another thing that keeps me going is
that I have a small team that I am able to keep employed in Cameroon. I have
them on a monthly salary and I am able to sustain their salaries from the
income that I make from my bookings and CD sales. This keeps me motivated
knowing that a group of people are depending on me for their monthly income
pushes me to get up and do what I have to do to keep things going. Lastly, I get so many testimonies of how
people are being blessed and delivered from my music.
If you are to advice someone who is
going through similar situations or even worst, what would you tell them to
continue carrying on with a positive front.
You must
stay in the word of God! Read the bible
like it is food. Create a secret place, a time when you can be alone with God
and fight! Do not let anything take over your faculties and your destiny. God
has given you authority in Luke 10:19. Be strong, be encouraged you can do it!
Listen to my music it will help you on the dark days when you feel like giving
up.
What can you tell someone that wish to
follow in your footsteps?
Become a
worshiper first before you seek to go into worship ministry and/or release an
album. Worship God alone in your secret place cultivate that first or God will
drag you back to that if you try to start a ministry or become a gospel
recording artist before you have graduated from the secret place. You cannot
skip that step. The platforms you stand on to sing will reject you and push you
back to the secret place, even the studios and producers will reject you. The
music you release will go nowhere. When your secret place is strong God himself
will announce you. He is waiting desperately to announce you. When God releases
you to start, brand yourself! brand yourself! And brand yourself! Work it out
with excellence. Remember you have all you need to start; just start and you will
grow from where you are.
Where can we watch or buy your music.
On all
streaming media, YouTube@Sharon Mbi, Facebook@SharonMbipage,
Instagram@SharonMbi. Just type. You can make purchases on CD Baby or buy directly
by contacting me via my website - www.sharonbisha.com or directly through my social media
messengers. A lot of people have listened to my song and called me to say “I
just want to bless you” and that have given me more the asking price on CDBaby
(which is 1 dollar per single) via my cashapp@Sharon Mbi. I also have a Patreon
account https://www.patreon.com/home where
you can pledge to support my ministry and you will get behind the scenes
footage of the making of the songs and videos and VIP releases as well as be
able to make contributions and suggestions to and for my ministry. So it's like
a partnership with my ministry if you do sign up for the VIP level.
Thank you, Sharon Mbi, this is a very
inspiring interview and as Sharon mentioned we always must seek God to prepare
us before we attempt to start up as a gospel recording artist, and do not
forget to Brand It, Brand It, Brand It!
Star Boulevard is a lifestyle column
that intends to tell authentic stories by promoting culture, celebrate
achievements, showcase talents and inspire people in the community for a
positive growth.
Contact: berylaann@gamil.com
Facebook: Beryl A Ann or www.facebook.com/berylaann
Insatgram: @berylaann
Twitter: @berylaann
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