The song “Olomi” was a lover’s themed hit song by Tosin Martins released in 2006. The song has evolved to become an evergreen love song that it has not been found wanting on playlists of DJs at weddings.
Just after releasing his album the same year ‘Olomi’ was released, Tosin Martins left the music scene at the time when he was gaining the loudest attention.
Meanwhile, the inspirational singer has explained why he left the music scene and according to him, other music sound that started evolving at that time was not his kind of sound.
In his words;
“I went quiet after releasing ‘Olomi’ because other music evolved and it just stopped being about that kind of sound. There is a Naija pop sound that is dominant and radio gives them a priority.
I am not that kind of artiste. I can collaborate with them and bring that kind of sound into my genre but the reality is that it is not my kind of sound. You have to be true to yourself. It is that whole process of being true to yourself and remaining relevant that caused my silence in the industry,” he said.
The singer further expressed his dissatisfaction for the stereotype against his kind of gospel inspirational song. Even though he is more of a gospel singer, Tosin Martins is one of the few singers in the genre to collaborate with secular artistes.
He said;
“What I appreciate from secular artistes is friendship and relationship and not what they stand for. There are some subjects that are bigger than a particular faith. Love impacts everyone irrespective of their faith.
You cannot say that Tiwa Savage is not capable of love, so I would feature her because she loves; she has had her own travails and challenges. It is the same thing with M.I and anyone else as far as I know that we click on the subject.
If we have to sing for a cause like HIV/AIDS, for instance, I would definitely collaborate with the secular artistes. For instance, we just did a song for the awareness of drug abuse and I collaborated with secular artistes.”
In what is believed to be a come back attempt, the singer held a concert on Valentine’s Day and he performed alongside Ebenezer Obey. According to him, his mother was highly excited to watch her favourite singer perform right in her front.
“I staged the concert because I had not done one in about five years and concerts are part of what makes us artistes. After recording songs and making albums, artistes need concerts to enable the people to truly feel the vibe. Honestly, I cannot tell you why I have not staged a concert in five years but I have been quite busy with travelling and touring. It is also quite expensive to put concerts together. I could have done something bigger looking at my level but I put this together and made it quite small because I had not staged a concert in a long time.
“It was a special moment for me because Ebenezer Obey is my mother’s favourite artiste. She has been following him for years and I have always looked forward to this opportunity. He featured on a song in my album, so I had to invite him to perform today. My mother watched his performance and she felt elated that I was able to bring her favourite artiste on stage right in front of her. When I told her that he was coming, she could not believe it and it happened,” Martins said.
