Teino Evans, Staff ReporterLYNFORD MARUSKO McIntosh, more popularly known in the world of gospel entertainment as 'Marisko', is a man with a mission, that of seeking and winning souls for God's kingdom.
According to Marisko, his friends use to call him 'Marisko', a mispronunciation of his middle name, 'Marusko', which he proudly told The Gleaner means 'African Warrior'.
Despite whatever intentions Marisko's parents may have had in mind when they added his middle name to the birth certificate, there was a calling for his life, as Marisko fell in love with music, and pursued this interest professionally in his teenage years.
TRUE POTENTIAL
At 15 Marisko was baptised and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. While realising his true potential as a songwriter and singer he became lead singer for the youth choir and chorale, soon becoming a member of the church band and playing the trumpet, piano and drums.
Two years later, in 1995, the then 17-year-old Marisko became a hotel resident band singer and four years later he was the youngest and most sought after cabaret artiste in the Jamaican hotel industry.
Some of the artistes who have inspired and influenced Marisko are Bob Marley, Kirk Franklin and Stevie Wonder.
"Bob Marley, for one, has inspired me, especially in terms of stage performance, and I always like the energy of a Kirk Franklin and, in terms of vocals, Stevie Wonder," he explained.
HARD WORK AND DEDICATION
As a result of his hard work and dedication Marisko won a Gold award at the Jamaica Cultural Development Competition (JCDC) and God-fest competitions in 1998, also making it to the semi-finals of the Jamaica Gospel Song Competition in the same year.
With such success, it was only a matter of time before Marisko would record his music and in 2002 his debut album, In a Matter of Time, was released on the Mainstreet label.
In 2003 Marisko received yet another award; this time it was the Jamaica Federation of Musicians Award for Outstanding Male Vocalist.
After the release of his album Marisko decided to take a break and do some inner searching, as he had to decide whether he wanted his ministry to be commercial or not.
"As a minister, you want to see to it that souls are won for the Kingdom and for me it is no longer a commercial thing, for example, producing albums, but to go to places where people are afraid to go and win souls," he said.
On his latest CD single (released on July 30, 2004) entitled Burn, Marisko addresses some of these issues, as he targets those persons in the ministry who are not transparent in their work.
WINNING SOULS
"I always saw ministry as winning souls without the money and when this single was written, I was thinking about preachers who were more considerate about the amount of churches they had or how well they preach, but not necessarily concerned about winning souls, and also those commercial gospel singers who do it just for the money. In the song, I'm telling them that if they don't change their ways they will burn," Marisko firmly stated.
Currently, Marisko is focusing on youth ministry and is now working with five different churches in Jamaica and one in the Cayman Islands where he deals with the youth arm, putting on concerts, drama productions and other youth-oriented activities.
In keeping with his youth ministries, Marisko also recently formed his own gospel entertainment company, Core Entertainment, through which he is able to extend the reach of his ministry.
"Under this we have our own Performing Arts school, where we teach all wind instruments. We also put on events, do booking for artistes, music consulting and wedding planning. So it can be considered as the first gospel entertainment entity of its kind," he said.
In addition, Marisko said there was also preparation for the release of a praise album that in March 2005.
"It is called Marisko Live in Praise, which will be a live recording. Everything will be up tempo, and lively praise," he said.
Now, with a new single, his own gospel entertainment company, a wife and his six-week-old son, Lemuel, Marisko's primary focus of the journey is to spread the good news about Jesus without fear or prejudice.
