Minister Marion Hall aims to ‘win souls for God’ at Reggae Sumfest
Says she is filled with ‘more fire’
Published:Tuesday | March 28, 2023 | 1:03 AM Stephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
On July 22, spirits will be lifted at the Catherine Hall
Entertainment Complex in Montego Bay as Minister Marion Hall promises a
divine cultural experience to those who will converge for the annual
Reggae Sumfest production.
“I’m adding Jesus Christ to the show,” she told The Gleaner,
while admitting that she did not want “anyone to get it twisted thinking
they gonna come and see the Lady Saw behaviour … . No, no, none of
that”.
Early last year, Skatta Burrell, popular music producer and a member
of the Downsound Entertainment group, the organisers of the music
festival announced, that he would love to book Hall for the 2022 staging
of the event. However, she quickly rejected the idea, noting that she
would not be gracing the stage unless Gospel Night was returned to the
calendar.
Recalling her grand exit from dancehall in 2015, the musical minister
said that she knew Reggae Sumfest 2015 was going to be the last time
she would close Dancehall Night, so this year, she is booked on the
diverse roster, which features primarily conscious reggae entertainers.
“I’m very excited. I know the fans are excited. I’m the only female
to ever close that event, and when I closed out on Dancehall Night, I
walked away knowing that I was gonna walk away from the industry. So to
come back as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, wow! I know that
the Devil was just trying to twist me up, turn me, and tell me, ‘You
shouldn’t do this or that’. I’m coming in and coming in hard. So demons,
I’m telling you right now, you gotta leave that territory. I’m taking
dominion over Montego Bay that night,” Hall said.
She continued: “Studying the Bible, when I look at Jesus Christ and
the people who He dwell among and hang out with, He said, ‘I didn’t come
to call the righteous but sinners, unto repentance’. You don’t just win
souls in the Church, the souls that are already saved. God is looking
for lost souls, and wherever He leads, I will follow. Don’t get it
twisted now. I’m not boring. My performance at Sumfest won’t be boring.
It’s gonna be epic.”
After much deliberation and collaboration with Downsound
Entertainment to produce new music, Hall is excited to engage
festival-goers, and she has been mentally and spiritually preparing
herself for the stage. She revealed that when she was saved, she was
confused, “and people were pulling east, west, north, south, and there
were some things that I thought I shouldn’t do and that I shouldn’t go
to some places,” but over the years, she has made peace with the choices
to give her life to God and continue music but use it to minister the
gospel.
“I’ve been talking to the Lord about it already, and I know I gotta
go into prayer and fasting to prepare, and that’s why I make sure I get
the night that I chose to go on, you know. Bless the name of the Lord.
Yeah because listen, God didn’t take all the fire out of me. He added
more fire in me,” she shared.
Some of that fire is visible in her latest singles, Sorry To Hurt Your Feelings and I’m Doing Better,
which is a production of Downsound Records (DSR). Speaking about her
collaboration with the label, the dancehall icon-turned-minister
explained that the original plans were to record two tracks, but this
has evolved into the production of a full project after she, along with
DSR principal Joe Bogdanovich, went to Nashville, Tennessee, to meet
with Grammy Award-winning musician Gramps Morgan and his guitarist for a
studio session.
She said: “We didn’t plan for it … . I’m just too talented. To put me
in a studio with Gramps Morgan’s guitarist, I mean, every time I opened
my mouth, it was just something that was irresistible. I think he had,
like, 30 guitars in the studio, and before we knew it, we ended up with
five tracks, and I recorded three of them when we were planning to only
do two, one there and one with another producer. Safe to say, it seems
like we’re gonna have an album.”
Hall said she truly enjoyed working with the DSR principal. From her
dancehall years until now, she believes the focus has been on producing
quality music.
“Even when I was in dancehall, he was always a respectable person,
and he knows what he’s looking for. I think Joe wanted to do something
that he had never done before, and I wasn’t even expecting Joe. The Lord
told me about a door. He said to me, there’s an open door that I’ve set
before you that no man can shut. I remember him using His own words. He
said before I get to that door, I have to go through some other doors.
They are doors where disappointment lies, you know, pain and heartaches
and all kinds of setbacks and delays,” she said.
“He told me to continue walking, so I was expecting the door to open
from the inside, like inside of the church, you know? But it opened from
the outside. So I’m just working with what God sent my way. God will
send a raven to feed his people. So I just bless God for Joe and, you
know, it’s good music. It’s clean music. It’s godly music,” Hall
affirmed.
LINK: https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20230328/minister-marion-hall-aims-win-souls-god-reggae-sumfest
LINK: https://godtv.com/gods-word-for-you-today-im-not-mad-at-you/
