Everything about Urban Contemporary Gospel totally explained
Urban contemporary Gospel (sometimes marketed as
"Black Gospel") is
music that's written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding
Christian life, as well as (in terms of the varying music styles) to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music. Urban contemporary Gospel is a form of
Christian music and a subgenre of
Gospel music.
Like other forms of
music the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of urban contemporary Gospel varies according to culture and social context. It is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. However, a common theme as with most Christian music is praise, worship or thanks to
God and/or
Christ.
Origins and development
There is no exact starting date for urban contemporary Gospel but it started during the slave trade when the Africans were introduced to the Christian religion. They used their way of worship and praise, that they did in their native land to help them conform more to the Christian religion. Back in their homeland they sang songs, gave testimonies as a form of worship and praise to their cultural gods and deities. During slavery there were three types of Gospel music, work songs, jubilees and social Gospel. These types of Gospel is still around today. Work songs were songs the slaves would sing while working on the fields or plantation. These songs referred to slavery in the bible but at the same time had a message of hope and freedom. Jubilees are songs that are sang in the church, this type of music really shows the adaption of slaves to the regular Christian form of music of that time period. Social Gospel is songs that have a social message with biblical references.
Original music (1920s – 1940s)
What most people would identify today as "Gospel" began very differently 85 years ago. The Gospel music that
Thomas A. Dorsey,
Sallie Martin,
Dr. Mattie Moss Clark,
Willie Mae Ford Smith and other pioneers popularized had its roots in the more freewheeling forms of religious devotion of "Sanctified" or "
Holiness" churches — sometimes called "holy rollers" by other denominations — who encouraged individual church members to "testify," speaking or singing spontaneously about their faith and experience of the
Holy Ghost and "
Getting Happy," sometimes while dancing in celebration. In the
1920s Sanctified artists, such as
Arizona Dranes, many of whom were also traveling preachers, started making records in a style that melded traditional religious themes with
barrelhouse,
blues and
boogie-woogie techniques and brought
jazz instruments, such as drums and horns, into the church. It is also important to note that gospel music isn't just a form of music. It is an intricate part of the religious experience for many churchgoers.
Gospel and rhythm & blues are deeply rooted in the Sanctified church. Blues and R&B departed onto the secular world paths and then led to rock and roll. Gospel on the other hand remained on a strong spiritual path and has survived for many years. Gospel music sheds an undeniable influence on R&B and rock and roll.
Thomas Dorsey stretched the boundaries in his day to create great gospel music, choirs, and quartets. Talented vocalists have been singing these songs far beyond Dorsey's expectations. The method, dynamics and power behind the songs are different, but God's message is delivered each and every time.
Dorsey, who had once composed for and played piano behind
blues giants
Tampa Red,
Ma Rainey and
Bessie Smith, worked hard to develop this new music, organizing an annual convention for gospel artists, touring with Martin to sell sheet music and gradually overcoming the resistance of more conservative churches to what many of them considered sinful, worldly music. Combining the sixteen bar structure and blues modes and rhythms with religious lyrics, Dorsey's compositions opened up possibilities for innovative singers such as
Sister Rosetta Tharpe to apply their very individual talents to his songs, while inspiring church members to "shout" — either to call out catch phrases or to add musical lines of their own in response to the singers.
This looser style affected other black religious musical styles as well. The most popular groups in the 1930s were male quartets or small groups such as
The Golden Gate Quartet, who sang, usually unaccompanied, in
jubilee style, mixing careful harmonies, melodious singing, playful syncopation and sophisticated arrangements to produce a fresh, experimental style far removed from the more somber hymn-singing. These groups also absorbed popular sounds from pop groups such as
The Mills Brothers and produced songs that mixed conventional religious themes, humor and social and political commentary. They began to show more and more influence from gospel as they incorporated the new music into their repertoire.
In the 1930's gospel music of the civil rights movement was referred to as the Black Gospel period because this was the most prosperous era for gospel music. The message of many of the civil rights activist was supported by the message gospel music was putting forth.
Golden age (1940s – 1950s)
The new gospel music composed by Dorsey and others proved very important among quartets, who began turning in a new direction. Groups such as
the Dixie Hummingbirds,
Pilgrim Travelers,
Soul Stirrers,
Swan Silvertones,
Sensational Nightingales and
Five Blind Boys of Mississippi introduced even more stylistic freedom to the close harmonies of jubilee style, adding
ad libs and using repeated short phrases in the background to maintain a rhythmic base for the innovations of the lead singers. Individual singers also stood out more as jubilee turned to "hard gospel" and as soloists began to shout more and more, often in falsettos anchored by a prominent bass. Quartet singers combined both individual virtuoso performances and innovative harmonic and rhythmic invention — what
Ira Tucker Sr. and
Paul Owens of the Hummingbirds called "trickeration" — that amplified both the emotional and musical intensity of their songs.
At the same time that quartet groups were reaching their zenith in the
1940s and
1950s, a number of women singers were achieving stardom. Some, such as
Mahalia Jackson and
Bessie Griffin, were primarily soloists, while others, such as
Clara Ward,
The Caravans,
The Davis Sisters and
Dorothy Love Coates, sang in small groups. While some groups, such as The Ward Singers, employed the sort of theatrics and daring group dynamics that male quartet groups used, for the most part women gospel singers relied instead on overpowering technique and dramatic personal witness to establish themselves.
Roberta Martin in
Chicago stood apart from other women gospel singers in many respects. She led groups that featured both men and women singers, employed an understated style that didn't stress individual virtuosity, and sponsored a number of individual artists, such as
James Cleveland, who went on to change the face of gospel in the decades that followed.
The 60's-80's
Gospel started to break way from the traditional church setting, with the choirs, and just singing hyms. There were more solo artists that emerged during these decades. Gospel artists began to perform more than minister; they started to add more genres to gospel music. Disco, funk, Jazz and many mainstream genres became apart of gospel music.
Modern Urban Gospel music
Younger audiences of Gospel music are attracted to music with rhythm and a groove and an urban contemporary sound. Gospel singers and siblings,
BeBe (Benjamin) and
CeCe (Cecilia) Winans and groups like
Take 6 delivered music to their taste one album after another. Modern gospel songs are written in the subgenre of either praise or worship. The former being faster in
tempo, stronger and louder, the latter being slower in
tempo and more subtle so the message may be taken in.
Shirley Caesar replies, "God uses any kind of vehicle. He chooses to draw men unto Him," Caesar said. "What has kept me going is that I try to sing about current events: drugs, black on black crime, a lot of hurting women who have been abused, young girls who have had children out of wedlock. I want to let them know about Jesus so that they might just get up and straighten out their lives."
Gospel's influences
Gospel artists, who had been influenced by pop music trends for years, had a major influence on early
rhythm and blues artists, particularly the "bird groups" such as
the Orioles,
the Ravens and
the Flamingos, who applied gospel quartets'
a cappella techniques to pop songs in the late
1940s and throughout the
1950s. Individual gospel artists, such as
Sam Cooke, and secular artists who borrowed heavily from gospel, such as
Ray Charles,
James Brown, and
James Booker, had an even greater impact later in the
1950s, helping to create
soul music by bringing even more gospel to rhythm and blues.
Elvis Presley was less known for his gospel but he was a gospel artist. His gospel favorites were "Why me Lord,"
How Great Thou Art, and "You'll never walk alone."
Many of the most prominent soul artists, such as
Aretha Franklin,
Marvin Gaye,
Wilson Pickett and
Al Green, had roots in the church and gospel music and brought with them much of the vocal styles of artists such as Clara Ward and
Julius Cheeks. During the 70's artist like Edwin Hawkins with the 1969 hit "O Happy Day," and Andre Crouch's hit" Take me Back" were big inspirations on Gospel Music. Secular songwriters often appropriated gospel songs, such as the Pilgrim Travelers' song "I've Got A New Home," or the
Doc Pomus song
Ray Charles turned into a hit "
Lonely Avenue," or "Stand By Me," which
Ben E. King and
Leiber and Stoller adapted from a well-known gospel song, or
Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get A Witness," which reworks traditional gospel catchphrases. In other cases secular musicians did the opposite, attaching phrases and titles from the gospel tradition to secular songs to create soul hits such as "Come See About Me" for
the Supremes and "99 1/2 Won't Do" for
Wilson Pickett.
Representative songwriters and artists
Charles A. Tindley
Thomas A. Dorsey
Sallie Martin
Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith
Mahalia Jackson
Clara Ward
James Cleveland
Further Information
Get more info on 'Urban Contemporary Gospel'.
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