Roge Abergel, is a unique reggae artist with a fascinating background and rich lineage. He was born of Jewish ethnicity to French-speaking parents, in Casablanca, Morocco (North Africa). At a young age, Roge's family was transplanted to The Ivory Coast in West Africa. They settled in Marcory, a district south of Abidjan. As a teenager, Roge Abergel, (pronounced "Row-jay Aber-jel") initially fell in love with the soulful heart pulsing sounds of Reggae.
"I grew up listening to the likes of Otis Redding, James Brown and Fela Kuti," He recalls. "I started listening to artists like Jimmy Cliff and the Wailing Wailers. Everything was imported to the Ivory Coast on vinyl records. I became fascinated with Jamaican music when it evolved into roots reggae and was musically indoctrinated by the reggae greats. By the mid seventies I was fully converted to reggae--It was the music of my heart!"
Influenced by artists like Winston "Burning Spear" Rodney and Bob Marley, Roge 's greatest desire was to sing roots reggae. While he used to jam it with his friends as a youth, it wouldn't be until decades later that this dream would come to reality.
In 1983 Roge moved to the United States hoping to kick off his music career. But God had a different plan for his life. Just a few months after arriving in the USA he met a sweet woman named Diane. The Lord used her tremendously. She led Roge to Christ, helped disciple him and supported his desire to answer the call of God and go into fulltime ministry. The two married the following year.
Roge received his initial ministry training at Crenshaw Christian Center School of Ministry in Los Angeles, with further ministry studies through Vision Christian University. He has been in the ministry for over twenty years as the founding and senior pastor of World Harvest Church, Los Angeles. He is a current member of the International Third World Leaders Association, ITWLA (Nassau, Bahamas), led by Dr. Myles Munroe whom he considers his mentor and pastor.
Roge is known as a multicultural international minister. He speaks five different languages (French, English, two dialects of Arabic and Hebrew) and has visited 30 different countries. His ministry focus is to establish the Kingdom of God by building up the body of Christ, establishing functional leadership and structuring strategic ministries. He is deeply committed to educate, train and develop people in the discovery and unlocking of their potential for the fulfillment of their destiny in Christ.
Roge is also the author of "Solve All Your Problems; God's Solution For Every Situation" and has recorded several praise and worship albums in the "A Psalm Today" series. While he loves singing praise and worship, his true musical passion has been for Reggae music. Deep in his heart he has always desired to sing roots reggae songs for Christ but the timing had to be right. "I had to make sure that my motivations were pure." Says the Pastor. "I needed to do things in God's timing. I didn't want to launch a musical career that would distract me from my primary role as a Pastor. The proclaiming of God's word must remain the central theme of everything I do."
In April of 2007 while speaking at "The People's Church" in Barbados the Lord mandated Roge to expand his ministering of the Word of God through the medium of Roots Reggae.
Upon his return from Barbados he teamed up with his friend Rick Balentine, the music director at Roge's church. Rick is a Grammy Nominated film/Television/Video game/Hip-hop composer/producer. Together the duo co-produced all the songs Kingdom Culture's debut project.
Roge's first reggae offering was the War EP, released in December of 2007. The album contains three full-length songs followed by the dub version of each track. To round off the project he worked with gospel reggae pioneer and dub scientist Mark Mohr of Christafari at his Zionic Sounds Dub Lab for mixing, overdubs and the Dub sessions. "These are dubs that heal from the inside out!" says Roge.
The War EP is a bold first effort by a tremendously talented reggae artist. It is strictly roots reggae with booming bass lines and infectious clavinet melodies by Rick Balentine, soulful guitar licks courtesy of Christafari's Obie Obien and tasty horn lines from members of Christafari's crew. This is Christ-centered roots at its best! Roge and Kingdom Culture are currently working on their full-length debut due out in mid 2008.
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