A Short History of Gospel Music: Rhythm & Blues Show 20 September
Written by adminChris on September 19, 2011
For various reasons, including the progress of Gospel Music worldwide, as well as locally with Gospel in one form or another now being played on virtually every GFM 96.6 show, it seemed appropriate to take a quick look at the history of Gospel, which apart from playing a vital role in encouraging people to accept God into their lives, is inextricably linked to Rhythm & Blues!
For the first hour of the show, Tuesday 20th. September we will be having a short look at the journey of Gospel Music from the Fisk Jubilee Singers to Kirk Franklin with a few words about Charles Albert Tindley, the Reverend T. A. Dorsey and others. We’ll hear songs from people over the years including Arizona Dranes, Sallie Martin, Swan Silverones & Dorothy L Coates with The Original Gospel Harmonettes.
About two hundred and ten years ago African Methodist Episcopal Church founder Richard Allen published “A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns”: today we have the Word reaching people through such genres as hip-hop and reggae, it’s an incredible journey and we will only be able to sample a little of it in the time but hopefully people will find it interesting, even inspirational.
A couple of timelines:-
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/gmha/controller/timeline.htm
In more detail http://www.igmhf.org/website/html_pages/subpages/history/history.html
Charles Albert Tindley is one of the earliest and most influential writers of gospel music. His two most popular songs are "I’ll Overcome Someday" (which is popularly know as "We Shall Overcome", the anthem for the civil rights movement) and "Stand By Me." "Stand By Me" became a national hit when Ben E. King and the Drifters sang their version during the 1960’s.
