9/22/2011

Gospel Music History And Culture

By Fred Nystrom


Gospel music of course, is frequently associated with church choirs, although that was not always the case. The origins of gospel music didn't just mean the beginning of a whole new style of music, it also meant the birth of African-American culture.

Although most gospel music finds it roots in Africa, a good number of it really is in reality an American invention. This is particularly true of 18th-century Southern societies during the era of slavery. Tribal songs imported from Africa addressed the spiritual voids that bondage induced in slaves. Gospel music was a tool for keeping in touch with one's natural surroundings. When US slave traders initially began the importation of African slaves to America, a all-purpose ban was imposed that forbade native tribal tunes and traditional African musical instruments.

Of course, maximum subjugation of slaves was the true motivation for such injunctions against viable inter-communications among slave populations. Thus, newly-captured Africans resorted to the creation of a musical innovation that employed Christian themes. The combination of Western modes of musical expression and conventional African variations formed the basis of the musical origins, history, and genesis of contemporary gospel music.

After the Civil War, African-Americans were free to travel the country. With them they brought gospel music, often performing the new sound in public music halls for all-white audiences. The spiritual aspect of gospel music spoke to a wonderful deal clients of all backgrounds and its popularity increases decade after decade.

Because the slaves regarded the church as a sort of safe haven, they felt that their own music could perhaps be performed and they started to combine their own native music with the often dull and somber hymns of the day. Lots features of today's gospel music are also used in the tribal music of Africa, including complicated percussion rhythms and the call and response.

It was about this time that former slaves were afforded meaningful solutions to collect and perform public musical presentations within groups. Exclusively Caucasian audiences rapidly fashionable this new musical breed. Their collective interest was undoubtedly enhanced by the novelty of the sound patterns and rhythmic tempo. Before much longer, gospel music began to impact both conventional religious hymns and secular American songs.

Many of the even more accepted, recent music celebrities like Sam Cooke, Elvis, Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson, and Jerry Lee Lewis have publicly attributed their phenomenal entertainment success to a personal background in which gospel music and its fascinating origins and history featured prominently. Of all the above parties, Mahalia Jackson is the only one who has carved an entire work exclusively from the gospel music backdrop. Although the other performers mentioned above didn't derive their musical success solely from gospel music, they experienced phenomenal secular musical success via gospel music crossover productions.




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