Black music's spiritual aspect may be a given, but two new books explain how
POP MATTERS
Black music is an act of faith. The key word there is “faith”, which you can take in two directions. There’s the spiritually guided direction of the spirituals and gospel, giving communal sustenance to black hopes and dreams from a Biblical underpinning. Then there’s the direction of faith as in “leap of faith”, in daring to create and articulate an artistic vision, rooted in the previous communal music but seeking to express something both broader in scope and more personal in intensity. Their aims may be different, but their paths converge and influence each other constantly. [link]
By Mark Reynolds
- Robert Marovich’s A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music
- Jason Bivins’ Spirits Rejoice! Jazz and American Religion
