Music's Week: What inspired you to start making music, and what keeps you motivated to keep creating?
Israel Onova: My personal faith journey has been the cornerstone of my inspiration. I have always felt a deep connection with God through music, and it felt natural to share that connection with others.
Growing up , I was deeply inspired by gospel legend like Ron Kenoly, Don Moen, Bob Fit, Donnie McClurkin, Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp and many others. Their ability to convey powerful messages through music ignited my passion. Also, being part of my church choir and seeing the transformative power of music in worship services inspired me to create my own music to uplift and inspire others. Life experiences like overcoming personal struggles and experiencing God’s grace motivated me to expressing my faith through music.
Music's Week: Can you tell us about your creative process? How do you come up with ideas for your songs?
Israel Onova: Prayer and meditation is the first thing I do, I seek God’s guidance and inspiration, I read my bible, reflect on my own life experiences, sometimes I play around with the melodies on the piano, but recently I noticed that I actually see myself sing these songs and when I wake up in the morning I quickly record them then later build up them as I get a clearer picture.
Listening to other gospel artist and even different genre of music can trigger innovative ideas. It helps me think outside the box and experiment with new sound and styles.
Music's Week: How do you balance your own artistic vision with the expectations of your fans or industry professionals
Israel Onova: My faith is still the foundation of my music, so by staying true to my core beliefs and values and ensuring that my artistic vision aligns with my message, which resonate with my fans or audiences, I also maintain open communication with people through social media, I also believe that being authentic is key and I try to maintain some level of authenticity when I create music that genuinely reflects my faith. It naturally connects with listeners. Listen to constructive feedback which helps to refine my work without altering its essence. Also collaborating with other artists and producers allows me to blend different perspectives.
Music's Week: What role do you think your music plays in your fans' lives, and how does that impact your approach to songwriting?
Israel Onova: For many fans, my music is a means of worship and a way to connect with God. My aim is to inspire, motivate listeners and remind them of who they are in Christ Jesus. “Manifest” is a good example, we need to know who we are, because understanding our identity changes our mindset and how we approach life. As children of God, we are born to win and fulfill our purpose in life.
Music is a very powerful tool that provide inspiration, motivation, healing, and comfort to people and that is what I will continue to express through my music.
Music's Week: What are some of your biggest influences, and how do they shape your music?
Israel Onova: Growing up in ministry, I was inspired by gospel legends like Ron Kenoly, Donnie McClurkin, Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp, Nathaniel Bassey, Sammie Okposo. Their powerful voices and heartfelt delivery deeply influenced my vocal style, but I try to be as authentic as I can.
Also, the Bible and my personal relationship with God are my primary source of inspiration.
Music's Week: Can you walk us through your latest release/album/song? What was the inspiration behind it, and what do you hope listeners take away from it?
Israel Onova: “Manifest” is a six track EP with songs like Sing Hallelujah, I will Praise, Most High, You alone, Manifest and Jehovah Reigns, I featured Nanamous on Jehovah Reigns and E’Davids on the EP title Manifest.
The EP was inspired by a dream I had, in that dream, I saw myself trying to proof to a friend that I wrote a song we were listening to on the radio, sadly too that all the people that came to mind when I was trying to validate my argument were dead, more or less like I had no evidence, I woke up feeling terrified by that experience and it was like a wake up call for me to do something about my music.
I prayed about it and God started revealing to me, He gave me four out of this six songs in my dream.
I want my listeners to connect with the messages in the song, Jehovah Reigns speaks of the Sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, Manifest is to encourage my listeners that they are God’s creation, they are born to win.
Music's Week: How do you approach collaboration with other artists or producers? What do you think makes a successful collaboration?
Israel Onova: I think it is a wonderful thing if you share the same beliefs, also collaborating with other producers gives you a different perspective on production, I will do it a million times over. Interestingly I had two collaborations in the Manifest EP and worked with three producers. What makes a successful collaboration is the understanding of the vision behind the music and the project.
Music's Week: What do you think sets your music apart from others in your genre?
Israel Onova: I believe we are all fulfilling our call as music ministers, but what will set me apart I believe is originality and the grace of God, I am not trying to be anyone else other than the best version of myself, my focus is on God and I’m committed to making good music as long as He gives me the grace to , I will continue to inspire people through my music.
Music's Week: Can you tell us about a particularly memorable or challenging experience while touring or performing live?
Israel Onova: I recall when I was shooting my first video “Jehovah Reigns” not even up to 10mins into the production, I had an accident while shooting the beach scene, an object hit me behind my left leg, I could not walk, we had to stop for almost three hours, but we had to continue, it wasn’t funny smiling or singing in pain.
Music's Week: What's next for you? Do you have any upcoming projects or tours that you're excited about?
Israel Onova: I have a concert coming up this weekend on August 10th in Westpark Florida and another one on August 31st in Atlanta.
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My brother, minister of God and an inspiration to people
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