To appreciate Gospel do you need to appreciate the Gospel ?
Posted by: Geoff P on 14 September 2004
There is a lot of music that falls in several different genre which uses religion and religious themes as its motivation.
Often it seems to be performed with extra fervor which presumably reflects the religious motivation of the artists.
I for one enjoy listening to the music for the very reason that it can be dynamic and alive with scale and dramatic delivery.
However as a professed atheist occasionally the whole thing gets a little too "hallelujah" for me and I become uncomfortable, but this is rare and the opportunity to listen and enjoy artist such as:
Aretha Franklin
Mahlia Jackson
Gerald Albright
Womack & Womack
Johhny Guitar Watson
Take Six
Nina Simone
and, numerous others, who at times venture the gospel path, is not something I would want to miss.
In fact this mail was prompted by my first listen to a new release from Kirk Whalum called "The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter II" which features the likes of George Duke, Paul jackson Jr. and Johnathan Butler. This is great stuff recorded beautifully in a church. It just gets a little too zealous very occasionally. When that happens and the "praise the lord chorus" rolls on for a few minutes too long I tune out because there is so much to enjoy in the rest of it.
So do others have an opinion about the question posed in the title? Do you appreciate gospel even if like myself you do not connect with religion?
regards
GEOFF
The boring old fart
Posted on: 14 September 2004 by P
Hey i got Soul but i aint no Soldier. Yeah?
Write On
P
Posted on: 14 September 2004 by sjust
Geoff,
I have great respect for various motivations to make music, just like I respect different cultures and/or religions, as is (taking off shoes before you enter a mosque, eating with the men, only, if you're in a Turkish family on the country side, wearing a tie when you do business, etc.).
Last Sunday, I've been to a (horrible) catholic church, listening to an hour of (over average) playing on a (beautiful) baroque Organ. To be able to enjoy the concert, I had to bear with the surroundings of the church and the somehow penguinish behaviour of the people that had organized the concert, and made a point of it. The program was mainly (with the exception of some pieces in the then usual format of dances) "religious" music. Not to strange, if it's for Organ...
Being not a church or religion fan, myself, I don't care too much, though. Listening to music for me has to do a lot with curiosity. Currently, there's the "Castel del Monte" CD spinning in my player, a musical piece ideally made for curious guys (or voyeurs ?) like me. Offers so many views into the location, the process of music making, the dissonances (between instruments, rooms, singers, ...), that it's worth a listen for me. Same stuff with the music based in religion: The motivation behind inventing and performing this particular kind of music is the interesting part for me. In the case of Gospel, it's this community "thing" in US American churches that's transported. In the case of classical church music (normally, composed to praise the Lord, etc.), it's the "heavenly" spark that I'm looking for. With Arab music, it's the boarder line they always walk to stay on "this side" of what is allowed, wanted and accepted...
The short answer would be: No, but it helps to know something about the background.
Best regards, freundliche Grüße
Stefan
Posted on: 14 September 2004 by --duncan--
Does Bach's B minor Mass count?
Perhaps more 'on topic', two of my favourite records are compilations of Gospel from the 1950's: 'Get Right With God' (Krazy Kat) and 'Jesus is the Answer'(Charly) which has great tracks from The Swan Silvertones, The 5 Blind Boys of Alabama and The Staple Singers. Look out for this sort of thing if you like the doo-wop and R&B of the time (which you should be) or 1960's soul which grew out of this music.
I'm a practicing atheist btw.
duncan
Email: djcritchley at hotmail.com
Posted on: 15 September 2004 by Phil Barry
I, too, think one can easily appreciate music that comes out of religious feeling even if the listener is rooted in another religious tradition.
I have real trouble with the currrent crop of 'Christian rock', though. I mean...Kinky Friedman put a record out 25 years ago as a parody, and the parody is now played straight. The St. Matthew Passion or Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan it's not.
Makes me think of college...my room was across an alley from a very high Episcopalian (Anglican) church. Every Sunday, as the Episcopalians trouped into church, my Lutheran/atheist roommate stuck a speaker in an open window to serenade them with an Abyssinian Baptist Choir record....
Good music.
Regards.
Phil
[This message was edited by Phil Barry on Thu 16 September 2004 at 4:59.]
Posted on: 16 September 2004 by Nigel_Rav
Just to add my 2p, I'm not so much into the classical and 'gospel' side of Christian music, but about 95% of my CD collection falls into the CCM category (Contemporary Christian Music).
As a born-again Christian, listening to an artist pouring their hearts out to God through music and being able to empathize with them adds a whole new dimension. It definitely enhances the listening experience for me, making it active rather than passive.
Posted on: 16 September 2004 by Tarquin Maynard - Portly
I like female vocal....
Regards
Mike
Spending money I don't have on things I don't need.
Posted on: 16 September 2004 by Pete
You don't (I think) need to be a Christian, but it helps if you can appreciate the nature of the sentiments on display. In much the same way that "My Girl" is more poignant if you've ever been in love, even if not with whoever Smokey had in mind when he wrote it, or the Temps had in mind when they sang it.
Bach's B Minor Mass and Tallis' Spem in Alium are favourites, because they are spiritual and showcase an uplifting spirit, and it is clear that even their existence is down to a strong faith which is a message in itself. That works for me, and I'm an agnostic. Beyond that, you can just appreciate them as technically superb pieces of polyphony, and that would work too.
Pete.
