While the English dictionary tells us that gospel music is a popularised form of impassioned rhythmic spiritual music rooted in the solo and responsive church singing, gospel music is believed to be a shining beacon of hope, an incredible journey of divine joy and a triumphant victory in God that comes from deep down the souls of God\u2019s followers popularly known as Christians.<\/p>\n
There might have never been another event in history that has been more compelling, convincing or, perhaps, persuasive than gospel music. We cannot deny the fact that some of the most beautiful music of all times was born out of intense grief and suffering and that gospel music is no exception because it has a measure of strength and potency.<\/p>\n
It reveals humanity in times of severe, brutal and persistent hardships. But throughout this ordeal, gospel music has always been a place of inspiration.<\/p>\n
However, the definition of gospel music seems to vary among people. To some, if an artist declares himself a gospel artist, then every song that he records whether it talks entirely about God, little or not it is still defined as a gospel song. Whereas to others, whether the artist is gospel or secular, if the song he produces talks about God and his kingdom them it is gospel music.<\/p>\n
But the question is, are all artists who deem themselves gospel artists sing gospel music? What could possibly be the definition of Malawi\u2019s gospel music? Should it be entirely dependent on one\u2019s music genre or the content of the songs?<\/p>\n
Two tracks from two gospel artists whose content has little about God but rather expose the social evils happening in our society could be the late Grace Chinga\u2019s hit song, N\u2019dzaulura <\/em>and David Kalilani\u2019s hip hop track, Osaopa<\/em>.<\/p>\n Chinga\u2019s song basically exposes the ills happening in our society. She sung:<\/p>\n Chilichonse chochitika pansi pa thambo ine nzaulura<\/em><\/p>\n Zoti chuma chako udachita kulanda nchamagazi<\/em><\/p>\n Kunja kwako ngati ndi nkhosa nkati ndi fisi ndiulula<\/em><\/p>\n Unanong\u2019ona mkanyumba komata zituluka<\/em><\/p>\n Unati katundu anasowa koma unamuba ndiwe<\/em><\/p>\n Zoti unakonza chiwembu chonse ndiulula<\/em><\/p>\n Zoti uli ndi ana ambiri ntchiremu ine ndiulula<\/em><\/p>\n (I will reveal whatever happens under the sky<\/p>\n That you have blood money<\/p>\n I will reveal that you are a hyena in a sheep skin<\/p>\n I will reveal whatever you said in secret<\/p>\n That you stole the property that got missing<\/p>\n I will reveal that it is you who plotted the ambush<\/p>\n I will reveal that you have illegitimate children all over)<\/p>\n With her words representing patience, endurance, survival, and staying prayerful, her voice rekindled the awesome power of God as she sung in some of her songs. It was a comfort that provided a renewed hope, a renewed joy, renewed peace and a renewed passion for life. Her music will forever be a deep well cast down into the refreshing stream of life.<\/p>\n Chinga developed a flair for composing songs that moved the heart and regenerated the soul of a people who looked to the hills from whence cometh their help. Her songs were so exciting and popular that congregations automatically joined in the singing and shouting as they lifted up the name of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n The sound of her gospel music is still enthralling and captivating because it stands against the social background as a shadow of today\u2019s community problems and dilemmas.<\/p>\n Unlike Chinga who, at least, tried to compose songs that were relevant to the society even though not entirely gospel, artist David Kalilani\u2019s song Osaopa <\/em>is entirely another side of the story.<\/p>\n The song doesn\u2019t necessarily talk about the gospel but rather attacks a man of God, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri, not even indirectly but rather directly. Part of the song goes thus:<\/p>\n Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? <\/em><\/p>\n Let\u2019s call spade a spade, I don\u2019t beat about bush <\/em><\/p>\n Bushiri you are not a prophet <\/em><\/p>\n You are not major you majoring the minus <\/em><\/p>\n Kaguru kokusatiraka tikapanga minus <\/em><\/p>\n If they don\u2019t repent hellfire ah go burn dem <\/em><\/p>\n You need a light in your ministry <\/em><\/p>\n The girls you are having sex with are confirmation <\/em><\/p>\n Kuti utumiki wako is an abomination<\/em><\/p>\n Akuti mphamvu zake amazitenga kumadzi ,<\/em><\/p>\n Mphamvu zako umazipeza through divination <\/em><\/p>\n Asing\u2019anga ako akuyalutsa uli mmadzi<\/em><\/p>\n Kapinga tikutchetcha njoka zionekere <\/em><\/p>\n Ndikumva ziwanda zako zikuti \u2018eh\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n Papa game yalakwa apapa <\/em><\/p>\n Ufiti! Ndi ndikupukusa legeni yanga kumwala<\/em><\/p>\n Ndine mwana wa Mulungu sungandiphe ndimankhwala <\/em><\/p>\n Blind followers please wear spectacles<\/em><\/p>\n And watch God making Bushiri a public spectacle<\/p>\n False prophets I will chop you down<\/p>\n like Elijah and the prophets of Baal<\/p>\n While other artists like the late Gift Fumulani, Lulu, McDonald Mlaka Maliro and Lucius Banda are popularly known for the contributions in the secular music world, some of their songs could be categorised as pure gospel music. One of Lucius Banda\u2019s songs that is a typical gospel song and probably loved by gospel fans is Samueli. He sings:<\/p>\n Ambuye waitana usakane iwe<\/em><\/p>\n Utsekule mtima alowemo iwe<\/em><\/p>\n Ambuye wakutuma usathawe iwe<\/em><\/p>\n Kungatalike ukalalike iwe<\/em><\/p>\n Samueli, Samueli nathamanga mwana<\/em><\/p>\n Kupita kwa Eli mwandiyitana ine<\/em><\/p>\n Kufikana kwa Eli anamkana <\/em><\/p>\n Pita ukagone simnakuitane ine…<\/em><\/p>\n (God has called don\u2019t ignore<\/p>\n Open your heart so that he should enter<\/p>\n God has send you don\u2019t run away<\/p>\n Even if it\u2019s far go and preach<\/p>\n Samuel, Samuel the kid run<\/p>\n Went to Eli you have called me<\/p>\n Eli refused go to sleep….. )<\/p>\n Listening to this song one would really come to terms that there is nothing secular about it but rather untainted gospel because the song is based on a biblical story that happened to a young boy called Samuel.<\/p>\n We might have also known Mlaka Maliro as a secular musician before he got born again but some of his songs he recorded during his secular tour reflected on various Bible stories as well. One of such kind of songs is Ophunzira a Yesu. The refrain of the song goes:<\/p>\n Mudzaona nkhondo padziko lonse<\/em><\/p>\n Mtundu ndi mtundu kuukilana<\/em><\/p>\n Muzangodziwa inu<\/em><\/p>\n Nthawi ija yakwana<\/em><\/p>\n Mukadziona musalire ananga nthawi ija yakwana<\/em><\/p>\n Ali ndi mwana agwilitse<\/em><\/p>\n Ufumu wa Ambuye wayandika <\/em><\/p>\n Ichi ndichiyambe chabe<\/em><\/p>\n Zadzikulu ananu zikudza<\/em><\/p>\n (You will see wars<\/p>\n A tribe against a tribe<\/p>\n Just know<\/p>\n The time is here<\/p>\n When you see these things don\u2019t cry<\/p>\n You have to persevere<\/p>\n The kingdom of God is near<\/p>\n This is just the beginning)<\/p>\n The song basically talks about the coming of Jesus Christ and warns us of the hard times to come. So, can we conclude that such kind of songs from Lucius and Mlaka are not gospel music because they were sung by secular artists? Of course not! This tells us that gospel music can be sung by either a gospel artist or a secular artist because the gospel is not the artist but rather the song.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the English dictionary tells us that gospel music is a popularised form of impassioned rhythmic spiritual music rooted in the solo and responsive church singing, gospel music is believed to be a shining beacon of hope, an incredible journey of divine joy and a triumphant victory in God that comes from deep down the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23161,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23156\/revisions\/23161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}