Praise Music: How has God influenced the music industry?

Music is a special instrument through which people express love, gratitude, joy and other human feelings. It is no secret that world religions have a practice of praising and thanking God through music. Religion at all times has had an influence in various spheres from politics to music. Music dedicated to God has shaped entire musical eras and styles such as Gospel, Worship and Christian country music. In Buddhism and other polytheistic religions, there are many examples of songs that are written to praise or beg for some kind of boon from the deities. Today we'll take a look at some of the music styles that are still played on the radio and on our playlists today.

Spiritual music

Spiritual music is a special type of music that is aimed at glorifying God. This type of music is used at Masses and services. The Orthodox are especially conservative in the performance of hymns, so they do not even use musical instruments. Especially unacceptable is considered the use of drums and any percussion instruments. If we talk about Catholics, then in their tradition the use of instruments is not forbidden, but still has a restriction on percussion.

Music of free people

In the 1930s, such a style of music as Gospel became particularly popular. It originated with African-American Baptists who sang hymns dedicated to the gospel. African-Americans at that time were very different from the mainstream Christians, who were especially conservative in the matter of glorifying God. Gospel became the "music of the free people." It was a complete departure from the conservative notions that were pervasive in Christian society, especially among Baptists. Since they considered it unseemly to even clap in church. But progressive Baptists, inspired by the expressive recitative of sermons, created music, which in turn gave rise to many more styles such as soul.

The sound of Gospel music is characterized by power, vigor and complex vocal techniques and it is not strange, as Gospel performers were descendants or progenitors of rock and roll, blues and jazz. Therefore, this style contrasted strongly with the classical hymn singing in church. One of the brightest representatives of Gospel is Elvis Presley, who brought this style of music great popularity among "white" people. It is also impossible to ignore the African-Americans, thanks to whom this style of music was born. Billy Preston, Little Richard were not just not the last faces in the music industry, but the key progenitors of rock and roll and blues.

Modern Gospel

Although more than 70 years have passed since the emergence of this style, it does not cease to be reborn into new and new musical directions. Texts glorifying the Christian God have penetrated absolutely all styles of music and Kanye West is an example of this. Kanye is a rap artist who released the album "Jesus Is King" in 2019. "In this album, I captured the essence of gospel" - says Kanye.

Another vivid example of the penetration of gospel motifs already in pop music is Justin Bieber, who is a deeply believing Christian, as in one of the interviews he openly admits that it was Jesus who changed his life and pulled him out of the mud, as well as gave him the opportunity to go through a difficult period in the first year of marriage. All these events in the singer's life were the catalyst for the recording of the album "Freedom" which he released on Easter. There are also many videos of Justin singing in Protestant churches on the internet.

Praise and worship songs

Praise and worship songs also known as Worship are sung in Protestant, Charismatic, Messianic Baptist and other non-conservative denominations. Worship can have a variety of musical arrangements ranging from acoustic versions with acoustic guitar to percussion and electric guitar. The sound of Worship is sometimes hard to distinguish from the pop hits we are used to hearing. For example, the song "Can Only Imagine" by Christian artist Bart Millard, which at one time traveled all the music charts. A biographical movie "Can Only Imagine" was even made about this singer and this song, which told the story of the singer's life and how he wrote the world-famous hit. Or another example is the song "Ocean" by Hilsong, which went viral on the Internet and was even often played as a soundtrack in Hollywood movies.

The essence of Worship, and all Christian music, does not lie in gaining popularity. All performers of this style always say that in their songs the first place belongs to God. The purpose of each song is to reveal and convey the character of God. Worship is an integral part of ministry in many churches. Christians believe that this practice of worship provides an opportunity to touch the presence of God and become closer to Him.

Summary

The influence of religion on music is enormous. Stars of the past and modern times have taken church hymns far beyond the confines of churches, which is why Christian music is still heard on the world stage. The lyrics of these songs are brimming with positive energy and perhaps that's why people like these genres so much, even those who don't consider themselves religious.