Praising God

Gospel music can broadly be defined as Christian music of the 20th century.  It is mostly associated with the African American community and grew out of other styles such as hymns, African American spirituals, jazz, and blues.  When combined with rhythm and blues, it features sophisticated arrangements and becomes soul music.  Gospel music is often slow and vocal heavy using clapping, stomping, and call and response, and may be performed a cappella.  It was also influenced by the American folk genre and was instrumental in shaping modern worship in black communities and church choirs.  Gospel music refers to music that is centered around God and Jesus, while secular music includes everything else.  Gospel music originated in early 17th century, Scotland and it is featured in Christian hymns and spirituals.  Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace.  John Newton’s ‘Amazing Grace’ and Augustus Toplady’s ‘Rock of Ages’ may be the most famous gospel-based hymns.

Last week we had Ya Mon where the theme was to find Reggae music.  This week the theme is to find Gospel music.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the Emmylou Harris song ‘Wayfaring Stranger’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ by One Direction.  The upcoming prompts will be:
May 7, 2023 – Boy Bands
May 14, 2023 – Girl Groups
May 21, 2023 – Disco
May 28, 2023 – Hip-Hop Rap