Despite gospel music being so popular over the many decades, there are still a lot of people who do not know the many types of styles surrounding gospel music. Fortunately, we are here to guide you and tell you some of the most popular gospel music styles you need to know.
Spirituals
These are religious folk songs that have been developed by the Black American slaves who had applied their African musical traditions to Chritian themes. Most of these songs were initially sung in spaces like the church and the fields when people would be working. Moreover, while their purpose was the expression of religious faith, they have also served as political protests disguised as assimilation to the white American culture.
Gospel Blues
Based on the blues form of gospel music, it consists of a combination of evangelistic lyrics and blues guitar. Some of the notable gospel blues musicians include Blind Willie Johnsan, Thomas A. Dorsey, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Reverend Gary Davis.
Traditional Gospel
Traditional Gospel was publicised by singer and composer Thomas A. Dorsey back in the early 1900s. This gospel music style is composed of large church choirs that are fronted by one or more soloists. Additionally, traditional gospel has always been the jumping off point for various other gospel music styles.
Southern Gospel
Just as the name implies, the origins of this style come from the Southeastern United States where the lyrics are written to express personal or communal faith when it comes to Christian life and biblical teachings while also giving Chrisitian alternative to mainstream secular music.
Over the years, this music style has evolved into a popular form of music all across the United States and many more places. It is composed and performed for various reasons – some of which include for aesthetic pleasure, ceremonial purposes, religious events or events serving as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Either way, just like most music forms, the significance, performance, adn the definition of the southern gospel has varied according to social and cultural context.
Furthermore, you can see these styles being used by some of our modern time famous gospel musicians, Palmyre Seraphin. As a highly acclaimed Haitian-American gospel singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, Seraphin creates music that caters to the French/ Creole-speaking community. During the first few years of her career, she started collaborating with gospel artist, Wilkinson Theodore. Seeing her talent and skills as a musician, he invited her to a studio session where they ended up collaborating on several projects.
In 2009, she recorded her first Solo project, ‘Ou se Jehovah’ and in that same year, she participated in the album “I’ll Say Yes” which had received a Grammy nomination. She was also nominated for the Revelation of the Year Award by Hallelujah FM and was accepted to join Devine Jamz Gospel Network as one of the top Featured Spotlight Artists.
Furthermore, she has sung with the 6th Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle from 2006 to 2018 and in 2018, she released her first English song “You Better Know What Time It Is” through the Devine Jamz Gospel Network. I
