Gospel music
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| Gospel music | |
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| Stylistic origins: | Christian hymns, Negro spirituals |
| Cultural origins: | First quarter of twentieth century: US 
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| Typical instruments: | Vocals, piano, Hammond organ, electric guitar, drums, and bass guitar |
| Mainstream popularity: | International |
| Derivative forms: | Rhythm and Blues |
| urban contemporary gospel, Southern gospel | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Christian country music | |
Gospel music is a musical genre characterized by dominant vocals (often with strong use of harmony) referencing lyrics of a religious nature, particularly Christian. Subgenres include contemporary Gospel, urban contemporary Gospel (sometimes referred to as "black Gospel"), Southern Gospel, and modern Gospel music (now more commonly known as praise and worship music or Contemporary Christian music). Most forms of gospel music use piano and/or Hammond organ, drums, bass guitar and, increasingly, electric guitar.
History
Origins
| This article is a part in a series on Gospel music | |
Roots and Beginnings | |
Genres and Subgenres | |
Related Music Genres | |
Associations and Groups | |
Gospel Music Awards | |
Related WikiProjects | |
| Category • Musicians See also: Christianity: Category • Christianity Portal Christian music: Category • Portal | |
Gospel music varies in style and flavor. Scholars have argued and some believe that gospel music first came out of African-American churches in the first quarter of the 20th century. Some believe that it was sung by predominately white Southern Gospel artists. This argument is based more on geography than fact. Seeing that black gospel was a form of communications between slaves while in Africa and white gospel was originated in its European form before even making it to American soil make the argument valid for both sides. The sharp division between black and white America, particularly black and white churches, have kept the two apart. While those divisions have lessened slightly in the past fifty years, the two traditions are still distinct.[citation needed]
Some performers, such as Mahalia Jackson have limited themselves to appearing in religious contexts only, while others, such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe a pioneer for black mainstream gospel, [1] the Golden Gate Quartet and Clara Ward, have performed gospel music in secular settings, even night clubs. Other performers, such as The Jordanaires, The Blackwood Brothers, Al Green, and Solomon Burke have also performed both secular and religious music.
Though it is a common practice to include gospel songs in secular performances, it is considered taboo for Christian performances to contain secular musical pieces.
Although predominantly an American phenomenon, gospel music has spread throughout the world including to Australia with choirs such as The Elementals and Jonah & The Whalers and festivals such as the Australian Gospel Music Festival. Norway is home to the popular Ansgar Gospel Choir, the only true Norwegian Gospel choir. Gospel is also popular in the province of Quebec, Canada, where important gospel choirs such as Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir and Québec Celebration Gospel Choir are famous.
Alternate theory of origin
It has been long thought by the wider African American community that American Gospel music originated in Africa and was brought to the Americas by slaves. However recent studies by Professor Willie Ruff, an Afro-American ethno-musicologist at Yale University concludes that African American Gospel singing was in fact was introduced and encouraged by Scottish Gaelic speaking settlers from North Uist[2] His study also and concludes that the first foreign tongue spoken by slaves in America was not English but Scottish Gaelic taught to them by gaelic speakers who left the Western Isles because of religious persecution themselves.[2] Traditional Scottish Gaelic psalm singing, or "precenting the line" as it is correctly known, in which the psalms are called out and the congregation sings a response, was the earliest form of congregational singing adopted by Africans in America. Professor Ruff, focuses on Scottish settler influences that pre-dates all other congregational singing by African Americans in America and found, in a North Carolina newspaper dated about 1740, an advertisement offering a generous reward for the capture and return of a runaway African slave who is described as being easy to identify because he only spoke Gaelic.[3] There is no doubt the great influx of Scots Presbyterians into the Carolinas introduced the African slaves to Christianity and their way of worship and singing. Even today, psalm singing and gospel music are the backbone of African American churchgoers. The lasting legacy of Ruff’s research is an anthropological revelation which forces the re-evaluation of the history of two peoples.[4]
Gospel music genres
Urban Contemporary Gospel
The music popularized by urban contemporary gospel pioneers had its roots mostly in spirituals sung by southern slaves during the 18th and 19th century but also in the freewheeling forms of religious devotion of 'Sanctified' or 'Holiness' churches, who encouraged individual church members to 'testify', speaking or singing spontaneously about their faith and experience, sometimes while dancing in celebration. In the 1920s Sanctified artists, such as Arizona Dranes, many of whom were also traveling preachers, started making records in a style that melded traditional religious themes with barrelhouse, blues and boogie-woogie techniques and brought jazz instruments, such as drums and horns, into the church.
Christian Country music
Christian country music, sometimes referred to as Country gospel music, is a subgenre of gospel music with a country flair, is also known as Inspirational Country.
Southern Gospel
Southern gospel or Country and shape note music publishing companies such as the A. J. Showalter Company (1879), the James D. Vaughan Publishing Company and the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company.[citation needed]
Early gospel artists such as The Speer Family, The Blackwood Family (The Blackwood Brothers), The Lefevre Trio and The Carter Family achieved wide popularity through their recordings and radio performances in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Others such as Homer Rodeheaver, George Beverly Shea, Cliff Barrows or the Cathedral Quartet, became well-known through their association with popular evangelists such as Billy Sunday, Rex Humbard and Billy Graham.
Progressive Southern Gospel
Progressive Southern Gospel is an American music genre that has grown out of Southern Gospel over the past couple of decades.
Bluegrass Gospel
Bluegrass gospel music is rooted in American mountain music.
Gospel blues
Gospel blues is a blues-based form of gospel music (a combination of blues guitar and evangelistic lyrics).
See also
- List of gospel musicians
- Gospel music WikiProject
Notes
- ↑ Rosetta Tharpe Retrieved December 19, 2007.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The line connecting Gaelic psalm singing & American Music, Line Singing Conference at Yale, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
- ↑ Ben McConville, Black music from Scotland? It could be the gospel truth, Scotsman, Aug. 2003. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
- ↑ Chuck McCutcheon, Indian, Black Gospel and Scottish Singing Form an Unusual Musical Bridge Religion News Service Saturday, Washington Post, April 21, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Boyer, Horace Clarence. How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel. Elliott and Clark, 1995, ISBN 0252068777
- Broughton, Viv. Too Close To Heaven - The Illustrated History Of Gospel Music, Midnight Books, 1996, ISBN 1900516004
- Brumley, Albert E., and Goldie E. Brumley. The Best of Albert E. Brumley. Powell, Mo: Albert E. Brumley and Sons, 1966. OCLC 51089914
- Darden, Robert. People Get Ready: A New History of Black Gospel Music. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. ISBN 0826417523
- Heilbut, Tony, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times Limelight Editions, 1997. ISBN 0879100346
- Zolten, Jerry. Great God A' Mighty!: The Dixie Hummingbirds - Celebrating The Rise Of Soul Gospel Music, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0195152727
External links
All links Retrieved December 19, 2007.
Professional organizations
- Firebird Arts Alliance - Encourages all races and religions to join
- Gospel Music Association - Acknowledges all forms of Gospel Music
- Pacific Gospel Music Association - Known for Southern Gospel
- Southern Gospel Music Association - Known for Southern Gospel
- Gospel Wire - Primarily urban contemporary gospel
Media outlets
- Bobby Jones Gospel
- Gospel Music Channel
- The Inspirational Network
- Christian Broadcasting Network
- Trinity Broadcasting Network
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