Gospel Music Tracing Back Its Roots

Gospel Music: Tracing Back Its Roots

Ever since some cognitive human beings have set foot on Earth, music has greatly taken part of their lives. The folks belonging to the days of yore created their own musical arrangements by plucking strings and hitting things like wood, hide, or stone. The sounds of nature have also served as one pleasant musical sound for them. They undoubtedly took pleasure listening to the sound of the waterfalls, the animals, and even the weather-related reverberations.

Music has then taken a further course. Throughout the passing of time, people have invented creative means of creating music. From the schools to the churches, there is music. The music industry has also created varied genres of music for all occasions.

You will often see or hear people preaching about the word of God. The gospel of the Lord is being delivered through the means of other people who serve as His own instruments. Simply listening to His words enlightens your spirit, right? God has often reminded His people to love one another as he loves everyone. He places every creation he has made under His care. Although every person has been created in His image and likeness, still no one leads a perfect life. To put it in a much simpler term, no one is as perfect as God is.

One’s spirituality and faith can thus be manifested by several means. Reading the bible, following the ten commandments of God, praying, singing gospel music, and attending mass are among the typical ways by which one’s spirituality is nourished. They often say that those who sing praise twice. Thus, by singing the gospel music, you are praising twice!

What is gospel music?

Gospel music is a religious music that contains the word of God. Gospel music is at all times used as one medium to praise God Almighty. In varying tunes and arrangements, gospel music can always be heard during the celebration of the mass, praise and worship activities, and healing mass.

There is no limit as to the use of gospel music. You can even make it as your morning praise habit. You can listen to it while driving your car. Or you can let it resound in your house. Some gospel music singers perform the genre in nightclubs and secular settings. These days, more and more gospel music are hence becoming danceable therefore making the enlightening of the spirit more effective.

The Roots of Gospel Music

The gospel music was first popularized by the African-American churches way back in the 1930s. Two styles of the gospel music emerged in those days—that of the black people and that of the white southerners. Despite the two separate styles, gospel music still traces its roots from the Methodist hymnal. There came a time when the artists from the two separate categories sang the gospel music of each other.

The onset of gospel music has marked a phenomenon in America regardless of the distinction between the while and black churches. Indeed, gospel music has reached Australia that gave birth to the gospel choirs of Jonah and The Whalers and The Elementals plus the beginning of the Australian Gospel Music Festival. Norway also gave rise to both the Oslo Gospel Choir and the Ansgar Gospel Choir.

The Influences of Gospel

The trendy pop music had greatly influenced the gospel artists. In turn, gospel music has also influenced the rhythm and blues singers of the 1940s up to the 1950s.

Gospel music has reached the peek of its popularity. Until now, several other gospel musical artists are gaining their own fame for the genre and a lot other patrons are getting drawn on them.

BONUS : Green Day - Jesus Of Suburbia

The final single off Green Day's rock-operatic album American Idiot is Jesus of Suburbia. To understand the song Jesus of Suburbia it is first crucial to understand that American Idiot was created as a cohesive rock-opera in the form pioneered by The Who. Jesus of Suburbia is the protagonist of the whole album and the song itself is a chronicling of this disaffected youth's life and times.

Since Jesus of Suburbia stands for all young rebels he is not given a name and he hails from Jingletown, USA. He is the child of a divorced mother and dates a girl called Whatshername. He spent most of his time watching TV, doing drugs and just hanging around - and was fed as the song states a “steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin”. Even with his okay life, this young punk feels trapped and bored in his hometown and wants to get away from it all. As such, by the end of the song, he decides to leave Jingletown, USA to explore The City. What he does in the city is described in detail in the rest of the album - especially in the songs Holiday and Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

This conceptual song is made up of five parts and runs a whopping nine minutes long although for radio broadcast it was cut down to about six-and-a-half minutes. The five different parts are actually five different songs transitioned together. They are:

- Jesus of Suburbia
- City of the Damned
- I Don't Care
- Dearly Beloved
- Tales of Another Broken Home

Released only one month ago on October 25, 2005 the song has yet to prove its shelf life. Although its unusual length means that it might only see limited airplay given its content and the fact that it is a thematic conclusion to Green Day's biggest album to date, it would be very surprising indeed if the song did not see at least some success.

The video for the single was planned as a mini-movie with the original video running a staggering fourteen minutes long with scripted dialogue while the shorter more airplay-friendly version sticks to the original song content and format. The director of the video was Samuel Bayer and it stars Lou-Tayler Pucci - a relatively unknown actor of Indie movie fame who has started to see his star rise lately thanks to such film releases as Thumbsucker and The Chumscrubber.

The members of Green Day are especially well place to comment on the plight of the youth of the nation. Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt grew up knowing first hand the hardships of living in a single parent family. When Billie Joe's father passed away when the charismatic lead singer was only ten years old his mother was left to care for him and his five siblings on a waitress' salary. Mike Dirnt's parents were divorced when he was seven and he lived with his mother who worked three jobs to support them. As a result he never saw her. Jesus of Suburbia is definitely a nod to their past and a shout-out to their fans many of whom probably come from very similar backgrounds as their heroes.

American Idiot is a revolution in punk-rock music making and marks a turning point for Green Day; with this rich album they have effectively catapulted themselves to the next level of their careers.