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Gospel music
Gospel music was born in the Black American churches in the 18th Century and became popular during the 1930´s.
We can find the origins of gospel music in the western African community that has been deported to the Americas by European colonizers and slave traders between 1619 and 1865. Most of the slaves came from the regions known as Senegal, Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leona, Liberia, Ghana, Benín, Nigeria, Camerun and parts of Congo. These slaves, as a manifestation of sorrow, began singing what we now know as “Black spirituals”, which later evolved to the early gospel music style.
Gospel music, unlike Christian hymns, has a light character. The origin of the word is “Godspell”, which means “good news”. This music style was named in such a way because of its evangelistic character, inviting people to God. The lyrics tend to reflect Christian life values.
It is a music genre characterized by a dominant use of choirs with an excellent use of harmony. Among the subgenres we include traditional gospel, reggae gospel, gospel rap, etc; today there are many subgenres named gospel. Among the most important gospel choirs in the United States we mention the Mississippi Mass Choir, Harlem Gospel Choir, Central Baptist Church Choir of New York, Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, etc.
Although gospel music is a North-American phenomena, it has extended to other parts of the world: in Australia we find gospel choir ensembles such as The Elementals and Jonah & the Whalers, festivals like the Australian Gospel Festival, and even the Australian Gospel Music Association, an institute that prepares singers and musicians. In Norway we find the Ansgar Gospel, and Canada (Quebec region) counts with two important choirs, Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir and Québec Celebration Gospel Choir.
In Spain we find: Coro Gloria, Choir of Castilla la Mancha, Gospel Choir of Madrid, Gospel.cat, Gospel Choir of Vigo, Gospel Choir of Zaragoza..., and more.