Gospelmusic

The Light of Life Gospel Choir Cologne has dedicated itself to the Contemporary Gospel School. In this content the choir performs mainly the Gospel music of contemporary composers from the USA or Sweden, such as Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, Darlene Zschech and others, who are in direct contact with our choirmaster Angelika Rehaag and the Gospel Academy Krefeld and who compose original arrangements both for us and our sister choir in Krefeld.



For many people, the term Gospel Music conjures up the sound of "Oh, happy day", or, "Amazing Grace". There is however, far more to this term.

Contemporary black gospel is the generic term for black, contemporary, Christian music. The origins of this music dates back to the beginning of the 17th century. With the introduction of slavery into the United States, came the Spiritual. This was the root from which came the later gospel music.

In 1619, the first twenty slaves arrived in the American state of Virginia. The European settlers there transported these living human beings from their colonies in Africa, over to the so-called "New World". Here, they were used as forced labour and set to work on the large tobacco and cotton plantations.

During the next approximately 250 years, almost 100 million coloured people were abducted over to America. For most of these, their common culture was music. In most cases this was the only form by which they could communicate with one another. They came from different tribes and spoke different languages and were deliberately housed in isolation. It is reported that they already started to sing their songs of sadness and despair on the ships transporting them to America. Whilst they worked on the land, they developed the "Work songs", the "Calls" and the "Cries", which helped them to perform their menial tasks rhythmically. The emotional songs and dances performed by the slaves both at work and by communal gatherings was, as in Africa, an essential expression of their identity.

Many slave-owners attempted at a very early stage to try and "civilise" their slaves to the white ideas and to convert them to the Christian faith. With the religious upsurge at the end of the 18th century, the freely held assemblies of the Methodists and Baptists came over particularly well with the slaves. At these gatherings, psalms and choruses were first slowly sung by the preacher; and then repeated by the audience. Increasingly, the slaves identified their life of suffering to that endured by Christ; and used music as one of the few means left open to them to express this view. Thereby, they hid their own misery behind Christian metaphors.

This was the basis from which the "Negro Spirituals" (literally: religious music of the Negro’s) developed. The text of the Spirituals has almost always a religious content, describing events from both the Old and New Testaments, which were similar to those endured by the slaves. They tell of the life of a browbeaten, overworked and yearning people, together with their hopes and belief in God. So emerged independent black churches, in which music, dancing and songs became an integral part of the black church service.

The idea of escape was ever present in the minds of the slaves. In 1838, opponents of the slavery organised what was known as the "Underground Railway". The time, place and method of escape were often hidden in the text of songs. A religious coded language emerged. The area north of the Ohio River, which was referred to as "Jordan" in the coded language, did not condone the use of slavery and was referred to as "my home", "Sweet Canaan", or "the Promised Land". Fleeing slaves would walk though water ("Wade in the Water"), to escape the perusing captors and their dogs. In "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", the expression "Chariot" could stand for the constellation of Libra (the Scales), which, in the spring, reached its lowest point in the night sky shortly after sunset; or it could refer to the freight trains, which travelled from south to north and onto which escapees could easily spring, when the train was forced to slow down on steep gradients.

The term Gospel songs probably appeared for the first time in print in May 1874, when Philipp P. Bliss (* 9^th July 1838, † 20^th December 1876) published his religious songs. The acknowledged father of the Gospels today however is Thomas Andrew Dorsey (* 1^st July 1899, † 23^rd January 1993). He was born the son of a Baptist preacher and a piano teacher. He studied composition and arrangements and worked during his youth, as pianist and singing teacher for established Blues Singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. Under the name, Georgia Tom, he became well known as a leading Blues piano player. A personal tragedy forced him to abandon mundane music and he started to write and compose what he called "Gospel Music". As he was very unhappy about the treatment handed out to composers of black music by the then established music publishing houses, in 1932, he founded the first publishing house for Black Gospel Music", namely the "Dorsey House of Music" in Chicago. Amongst his most famous "hits" was, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" sung by Mahalia Jackson, which became one of the favourite songs of the Rev. Martin Luther King.

It was however, not until the 1930s, that the term Gospel really came into being. The word came from the English, gospel = doctrine or good news; which in turn originated from the old English word godspel (god = good + spel = message). The Christian afro-American music of the 20th and 21st century is now known as Gospel, or Gospel Music and is, in a limited sense, the religious songs of the afro-American church. As "black gospel", they are a continuation of the Spirituals, under the strong influence of Jazz and Blues elements.

The Black Gospel which has developed since the 1980s is now referred to as Contemporary Black Gospel. This generally is a product from contemporary composers and has been evolved from a trilogy mixture of avant-garde composers (e.g. Kirk Franklin, Richard Smallwood), city radio and "Pop music" influence (The Commissioned) and the sound produced by large and powerful choirs (e.g. The Chicago Mass Choir).

In the black churches of the United States today, this type of music, with the exception of extreme "pop" versions, is now an established part of the church service and is still being actively developed. Hence, whilst one section of the music is developing under the influence of pop-music and thereby incurring the wrath and scepticism of the more conservative believers, the other section of the music is attempting to once more become the leading force in propagating Black Music.

Gospel originally sprang from helplessness, depression and suppression. From this however, mainly due to the influence of the spirituals, a different type of Gospel emerged for the afro-American descendants of the original African slaves who came to America during the 18th century; a Gospel music with a gripping zest for life and infectious rhythms; like a ray of hope for better times.

Today, it is an expression of deep religious conviction and trust in God, not only for the afro-American community in North America, but also for the countless other enthusiastic followers, from all cultures throughout the world.

Those who think that Gospel is limited to predefined musical borderlines are however greatly mistaken. It was from this form of groovy rhythm that other musical categories evolved, such as Jazz, Soul, R&B, Hip Hop, Rap etc. Gospel therefore, is still to this day, up-to-date!

Bil Carpenter, Mavis Staples, Edwin Hawkins: Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia, Backbeat Books (2005), ISBN-13: 978-0879308414

Teddy Doering: Gospel, Musik der guten Nachricht und Musik der Hoffnung, Aussaat (1999), ISBN-13: 978-3761551219

Michael W. Harris: The Rise of Gospel Blues, The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church, Oxford University Press (1994), ISBN-13: 978-0195090574

Micha Keding: Der Einfluss der Gospelmusik auf den Jazz zwischen 1950 und 1970, Diplomica (2005), ISBN-13: 978-3832489571

Theo Lehmann: Negro-Spirituals. Geschichte und Theologie, Hänssler-Verlag (1996), ISBN-13: 978-3775126342

Eileen Southern: The Music of Black Americans: A History, W. W. Norton & Company (1997), ISBN-13: 978-0393971415

Gospelzene.de: Lexikon.