Development of Gospel music across the continents
Throughout its history the word Gospel has become synonymous with a unique style and sound - raw soulful and spirit-filled singing usually by a choir. This impression is consistent with its beginnings as church-based 'praise music'. It is still the most popular perception of Gospel, however today its sound is very different. From reggae to rumba, jazz to juju, Gospel is now expressed in as many ways as there are music genres. The only consistent thread is that it carries a Christian 'good news' message.
The history of Gospel is predated by its African roots, in the traditions of indigenous African people. The earliest coming together of a Christian message interpreted into black music history was through the incidence of the transatlantic slave trade.
The first incarnations of Gospel music were in the three phases of Negro spirituals: work songs, jubilees and social Gospel. Work songs came into being pre-1867. They were songs and chants composed by the slaves and sung largely outside church, in the cotton fields and plantations. These songs drew from Biblical imagery as inspiration through the hardships of slavery but also as coded songs of hope and freedom.
The rise of Pentecostal churches at the end of the 19th century saw the rise of gospel music. Pentecostal recordings of preachers’ sermons were immensely popular among African American people it was so huge it reached the white audience as well.
Jubilees were similar to work songs but sung in church as slaves began to embrace Christian forms of worship. They were 'call and response' style hymns and developed harmony as different parts sung as a group. The voice of the black gospel preacher was affected by black secular performers, and vice versa. Taking the scriptural direction “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord” (Psalms, 150), Pentecostal churches welcomed timbrels, pianos, organs, banjos, guitars, other stringed instruments, and some brass into their services. Choirs often featured, the extremes of female vocal range in antiphonal counterpoint with the preacher's sermon. Improvised recitative passages, melismatic singing, and extravagant expressivity also characterize gospel music.
Among the most prominent of gospel music composers and practitioners were Thomas A Dorsey, born in 1899, a prolific and best-selling songwriter whose works include, most notably, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”; The term 'Gospel' is attributed to him in the 1930s. Dorsey was a former bluesman who went on to write some of the most enduring standards of Gospel music. Dorsey's songs inspired a number of Gospel and Southern American artists, including Elvis Presley. The Gospel music of the civil rights era, often referred to as the Black Gospel period, defined Gospel's richest heritage with artists like
the Reverend C.A. Tindley (1851–1933), composer of “I'll Overcome Someday,” which may have served as the basis for the anthem of the American Civil Rights Movement , “We Shall Overcome”; the Reverend C.L. Franklin of Detroit, who issued more than 70 albums of his sermons and choir after World War II; blind Reverend Gary Davis (1896–1972), a wandering preacher and guitar soloist; Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose guitar and vocal performances took gospel into nightclubs and concert theatres in the 1930s; Roberta Martin, a gospel pianist based in Chicago with a choir and a school of gospel singing; and Mahalia Jackson (1911–72), who toured internationally and was often broadcast on television and radio. The Clara Ward Singers, Dorothy Love Coates, The Caravans and The Dixie Hummingbirds.
The struggle for civil rights and the tangible problems of segregation and inequality inspired a new brand of socially aware Gospel music in the mid-1920s and through to the 1960s. These songs integrated social messages with scripture references. Gospel music divided into church-based worship songs on one side and music by Christians with more of a secular social conscience on the other.
Other forms of gospel music have included the singing and acoustic guitar playing of itinerant street preachers; individual secular performers, sometimes accompanied by bands; and harmonizing male quartets, usually singing a cappella, whose acts included dance routines and stylized costumes.
| The financial success of secular black music in the 1960s and 70s ushered in a new kind of Gospel artist: more performance-aware yet equally spiritually and socially engaged. They included the 'Godfather of Soul' James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Reverend Al Green and Sam Cooke. It was common for these artists to chose one side of Gospel's divide as religious and secular music industry did not mix. It also confirmed the acceptance of Gospel artists as solo performers.
In the 70s and 80s artists like the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Andrae Crouch, Commissioned and Candi Staton brought the popular sounds of disco, funk and other mainstream genres into the growing spectrum of Gospel. This era also brought to prominence some of Gospel's biggest musical families including The Clark Sisters, The Hawkins and The Winans.
The 90s brought an R'n'B crossover explosion when Gospel artists such as Sounds of Blackness, Helen Baylor and Bebe and Cece Winans scored big international chart and club hits. This was also a good time to be 'Gospel' and British, as record companies took note of the US success and tried to emulate it with homegrown artists like Paul Johnson, The Escofferys, Nu Colours, Mica Paris, Ruby Turner, Patrick Jean-Paul Denis, Lavine Hudson and Bryan Powell. This favourable mood also bolstered recognition for the existing traditional Gospel groups like the London Community Gospel Choir and the Inspirational Choir.
The current genres of Gospel owe as much to its rich heritage as it does to the upbeat performance of urban or 'street music'. Kirk Franklin, Tye Tribbett, Tonex and J Moss have adopted a Holy Hip Hop attitude in bringing the 'good news' to a younger generation. However, the popularity of more traditional artists like Smokie Norful, Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams remains strong.
How Gospel music came to Nigeria
The rise of Christianity and gospel music are synonymous. Christianity came to Nigeria with the missionaries during the colonisation period, over 200 years ago. Songs in churches at that time were hymns. As churches developed over the years the traditional worship method was gradually reduced to incorporate the Pentecostal style of worship. Nigeria’s affluence during the 1960’s,70’s and 80’s saw foreign workers employed in the country and many of its citizens going abroad to study and develop. This brought an increase in western influence on Nigeria which was welcomed by the country.
In praise and worship, churches are thought to have found first, entertainment, which is often construed as a means to elevate the worshippers’ spirit, making it compatible with the spirit of God. The Pentecostal style of worship is the predominant Christian type in southern Nigeria today which. Musicians today are more exposed to a wider range of music and hence Nigerian gospel music has developed as another music genre. Many gospel musicians sing using a combination of their own native language, English and pidgin English.
Often in gospel songs there is the western style music and the African style of music. Polyrhythm can be heard, which are two or more separate beats played simultaneously, hemiola style and obstinate rhythms can also be heard. Nigeria has some of the most advanced recording studio technology in Africa, and
provides robust commercial opportunities for music performers. Ronnie Graham, an historian who specialises in West Africa, has attributed the success of the Nigerian music industry to the country's culture—its "thirst for aesthetic and material success and a voracious appetite for life, love and music, and a huge domestic market, big enough to sustain artists who sing in regional languages and experiment with indigenous styles".
Source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
BBC online
Wikopedia
Nigerian gospel website
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