Great write-up by Jude uchella, Gospel Music and the world

Since the inception of gospel music up until now, several developments
have taken place. In other to aptly elucidate this, an understanding
of 'gospel music' is pertinent. Gospel music alias 'sacred song' is
the word of God portrayed with words of men, transformed into melody
or harmony, accompanied with musical instrument(s), or performed
without musical instrument(s): which can be described as “acappela”
i.e. Voice alone. In other words, it is the good news of the kingdom
musically delivered. Gospel music can be referenced to have started as
a result of the advent of the academic discipline of ethno-musicology
through a study of the two thousand - year history of church music,
and through a study of rural folk music traditions. Vis-a-vis the
African American experience, hymns were prominent, and most often than
not had an air of repetition. This was used as a device to ensure
everyone participated in the songs(especially those who could not read
- who were slaves). Then, most churches did not have the instruments
to accompany songs, but this did not impede gospel music in any way.
The advent of Radio in the 1920s largely contributed to the
propagation of gospel music which was eagerly welcomed by a teeming
audience. Shortly after the second world war, gospel music moved into
major auditoriums, and gospel music concerts became quite elaborate.
Since then, gospel music has adopted other genres of music like: hip
hop, soul, R n B, rock etc which today, are widespread. In this piece,
the trends of the nineteenth cum twentieth century gospel music will
be divulged and explicated; along with the present-day gospel trends;
and finally, what the future of gospel music holds.

The term gospel song was in no doubt brought about by
Phillip Bliss after he published the songbook, Gospel Songs. It boasts
of a selected collection of hymns which were much more easy to grasp
and sing in contrast to church hymns. To a large extent, it won't be
out of place to say that what we consider gospel music today(which
covers disparate genres of music), in those days were predominantly
hymns. I must admit that hymns have a way of communicating the word of
God to man. It is usually slow, rythmic, fraught with edifying lyrics;
and sung by choristers with angelic voices. This is unlike the myriads
of fast-paced music we hear today. However, that is not to say that
'fast music' is ineffective. To prove the efficaciousness and
sacrosanctity of these hymns, most of them are still sung in our
churches today. Another thing to briefly add is the enthusiasm and
moral uprightness of gospel musicians of that time. They were driven
by a divine purpose, and this lead to the great impacts of their
music. However, one cannot foolhardily opine same in relation to
gospel artists of this time.

Today's gospel musicians have explored different genres of
music which is clearly, an indication of evolution - a good one at
that. Now, there is, I think, no secular kind of music which does not
have a gospel alternative. This is indeed not unexpected as the
struggle for the souls of men is fiercer than before. However, the
'comma' noticeable in the camp of gospel musicians is the high level
of hypocrisy, moral poverty, insolence towards God's word etc; we see
this everyday acted out by some, or most of them. This is a pathetic
report. Some of them sing gospel songs with their mouth, not with
their heart. Theirs is to make money; and most times, if the 'trade'
is not monetarily encouraging, they opt for secular music - where they
are sure to make it big time. This is not alien to us, neither is it
hearsay - it is reality. To compound their woes, some of them lack
originality. They are copycats. They copy beats, lyrics...from secular
musicians...what blatant idiocy! Gospel music, I must admit has gone
from bad to worse compared to the ancient times, albeit, there are
quite a number of gospel artists who are true to their calling and
mission; they may be few but they are making a difference.

In conclusion, concerning the future, I think the state
of things in the world will get worse(because this is the end time)
but the word of God will continue to prevail through gospel music.
There may be changes in delivery and what have you, but the word of
God will remain constant and effective - his word never returns
without achieving the purpose for which it was proclaimed.

written by Jude Uchella