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 AMStephanie 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.
irresistible
“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.