Gospel musician inspiring others with his story

WHEN Sondy Ceran stepped off the plane in 2015, he knew very little about Guyana. He was familiar with the trees and tropical sun and was drawn to the nation’s people.
Sondy came to Guyana from his homeland of Haiti with just a dream and a passion for music. Although his career began in Haiti, the support and love he received in Guyana were unlike anything Sondy thought he would experience. With a growing support base, Sondy hopes to inspire people with his unique gospel music.

Sondy was born and raised in his faith and was ordained as a pastor at 17. He described his childhood as difficult and unpredictable. One week was not guaranteed to be like the next, and Sondy turned to music as the only stable thing in his life. As he recounted, “I grew up in Haiti. I grew up in Haiti, and then I came to Guyana when I was 22. Growing up in Haiti was quite challenging. Very. Because growing up in a country where you have instability in terms of security – there’s no security.”

Although he struggled initially with music in Haiti, Sondy eventually became known as a respected music producer and musician in his own right. As he shared, “My career started in Haiti, actually. I started working as a producer in a studio. That was my way of making some money. But I never recorded myself because it was a job. So, I couldn’t afford to just go into the studio and, say, pay for the studio time and then record. But I needed that money to help me out. But I started recording other people. And then I was a youth director, choir director, and stuff like that, which gave me much more knowledge in music. But to get to recording for myself was when I was 19.”

When he ventured to Guyana almost a decade ago, Sondy had no real idea of how he would make his music career work. With hard work, time, and the help of some supportive Guyanese musicians, Sondy soon found his footing in the Caribbean’s gospel scene. “I fell in love with the country. I fell in love with how people embrace you here. And I think this is one of the things that I believe foreigners need to tell Guyanese more, is that Guyanese have a special way of giving it all to you.” He went on further, “So then a couple of years after, about four years after, I travelled to Guyana. And since I came to Guyana, I’m doing the same thing: keep recording. I was so blessed to be embraced by so many Guyanese gospel artists. You’re talking about Kester D, Saiku, Sean English. These guys put me under their reign and fly with me.”

Sondy has released a few songs recently and has done numerous covers of both gospel and rhythm and blues. But whether it’s R&B or Gospel, sung in English or French patois, Sondy says his inspiration stays the same. “God is my inspiration. I sing to remind people about God. And one other thing is that it doesn’t matter who you are, what you have done before in life. It doesn’t matter where you are in your work with God. What matters is, do you take time to realise that He loves you beyond measure. So I choose to sing love. I choose to sing His grace and mercy.”

Sondy is as unique in his approach to his faith as he is to his music. He aims to break the mould of the conventional gospel. As he explained, “Everybody is trying to make your relationship with God very scary. They say, ‘Oh, if you don’t come to Jesus, you’re going to hell.’ I mean, that’s not the message. The message is the good news about God. So, instead of preaching hell all the time, let’s start preaching love and mercy. It’s goodness. Because that’s what Jesus did, so these are the things that inspire my music. It’s the message of the cross, the message of salvation, the message of love and purity to God. These are the things. That’s where my inspiration comes from.”

Sondy, like most musicians, hopes his music will have a profound impact on his audience. But unlike your everyday singer, Sondy wants his listeners to have a truly unique experience. As he shared, “Anytime someone listens to my music, I want them to have an encounter with God. That’s all I need. That’s why I’m not doing this for the fame. I’m not trying to be famous as if my music is just a vibe. I’m not trying to create a vibe. If you’re looking at social media nowadays, you’ll see everything is a vibe. It’s all about the rhythm, not the message behind it. So even if you’re looking at Afro beats, everything that comes out becomes a hit just because of the rhythm.”

As someone who has stuck with music for as long as Sondy has, and gospel music to be exact, Sondy urges other musicians to be true to themselves. As he stated, “Gospel artistes are trying to gravitate towards dancehall, reggae, and Afrobeat just to have that niche to get to that market. But it’s not about the message. It’s all about the rhythm. I’m not trying to do that. I’m trying to speak a message that can last forever. Whenever someone hears any one of my songs, whenever someone listens to me when I’m preaching or singing, they must say they had an encounter with God.”