MY NIGERIAN GOSPEL MUSIC

Gospel music is a music genre in CHRISTIAN MUSIC. This Genre of Music varies in terms of style of performance, meaning or significance, creativity and definition as regards culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, such as aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes as well as entertainment product for commercial purposes.

 In general, Gospel Music is characterized by dominant vocals, making use of Lyrics of a Christian nature. According to Omibiyi Obiduke, pg.6, (2004), Gospel music originally was used in the church and was performed at special festivals such as Harvest, Thanksgiving, and so forth.  However, with the electronic technology and the need for youths to have the type of music that caters for their social interest, gospel music was taken out of the confines of the church. At some point in history, people collected Nigerian folk songs and arranged them for the choral stage and even modified them and used the tunes for worship.  That was the trend that really developed into what we call the gospel music of Nigeria of today... (Okafor, 2002:6).

Ministrations rendered by invited talented individuals, choirs and independent church musical groups on Radio ELWA, Igbaja, which was broadcast from Monrovia, Liberia as from the 1950s also contributed to the growth of Gospel Music in Nigeria. The choir of Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) featured prominently in this development.

Having said that, Nigerian Gospel Music has seen a proliferation since then, in terms of style, Content, Genre, Quality and form of beat or sound used, alongside all the elements of good Music, as it also takes into consideration, important factors such as culture, and target audience. Today, there are many Gospel Music Artistes in Nigeria, all of whom are Unique in their various styles and Genres of Music.

 Below is a list of some of my favorite Gospel Music Artistes... Happy listening.

Lara George

Frank Edwards

Bouqui

Nathaniel Bassey

Nikky Laoye

Segun Obe

Sinach

Samsung

And Here are some of my best Gospel Groups in Nigeria too...

Axios a capella choir

Midnight Crew

Happy reading...


REFERENCE:

Some Article Excerpts partly taken from www.nigeriangospelmusic.org (2004) and our own observations too (Club Lyrics).
Cheers...