by Emmanuel Dlamini
Ok, lets get this straight, I am a fan, critic, artist and collector of gospel music! I do not listen to stuff that does not bulild my inner man, edify my spirit, inspire my faith in God and also leave me drooling at the ryhmes, bits, lyrics, attitude, creativity and rythm. So if your music will get my attention, it has to measure up to my standards. Simple case of preference, nothing personal! Concerning the genres, I do not normally have any issues. There are cases where I prefer certain genres and artists, e.g when I am getting ready to minister or when I am looking for ideas. For instance, these days I am hooked on artists like the often misunderstood Ton3X™, J Moss and almost all Cross Movement artists amongst many. These artists and many others all over the world including a few groups in my home country Swaziland have in my eyes proven to possess a quality that is missing in gospel music today.
Controversial as it made Him to be in ‘religious’ circles, I believe that what made Jesus Christ’s message and style different, which also led to His death, was the ability to reach the masses, the men and women in the street. The one’s who had no care about the temple schedule, religious dresscodes and protocol. He had a way of getting to the ones who were often neglected, untouchable or even indifferent to the religious culture of the time. Although it made Him a lot of enemies amongst the religious elite, Jesus was adored by the crowds. His approach towards them had something in it that made the people want to listen to him. He did not follow the flashy, exclusive and hypocritic yet claiming spiritual superiority lifestyle of the Jewish pharisees and priests. The man went beyond the religuous barriers and reached out to the masses, not just the the ones who frequented the synagogues.
I believe that nowaday gospel music can learn a great deal from the life of Jesus in as far as reaching the masses. I know that many of us Christians see nothing wrong with the state of gospel music in as far as the mandate of reaching souls for Christ. But I beg to differ. In line with the advice that the apostle Paul gives in one of his letters to the church in 1Corinthians 10:12, the gospel music fraternity should keep checking their stand. I submit that in my personal observation it is evident to all that the gospel music audience is by far the least amongst all the music genres of the world. We are making music that only appeals to the ‘synagogues’ and ’temples’! We have been given a message for the world but we have kept it within the corridors of religion! Although we were commissioned to make music for the world, we still sing songs of the minorities. Our songs are so weak in quality and content they fail to make the grade in the circular world, when the Lord of our faith got invited into tax collectors’ homes leaving them transformed by His message. The few artists that have their songs played on cricular stations are marginalized by the Christian fraternity at times. This leaves one with a lot of questions concerning the state of the church as a whole. Instead of supporting a brother or sister in the Lord we choose to backbite, gossip and ridicule them until they backslide.
Its time that we start making music for the world and not be afraid to take it to the world, after all it is our calling. The world comtinues to innovate and improve the quality of its music, yet we stay in the confines of mediocrity. If it means not categorizing it as ‘gospel music’ so that it gets into the market I say so be it! Lets get this message to the world by all permissable and possible means. I remember Jesus had so many crowds following Him he had to find an exalted place so that His voice could reach them all. We need to position ourselves in God and to the course of Christ so that He will grant us the platforms to reach the world. I believe that He who has called us is able to preserve as we live in the world so that we do not become of the world.
