Gospel music
Gospel music may refer either to the religious music that first came out of
African-American churches in the
1930s or, more loosely, to both black
gospel music and to the religious music composed and sung by white
southern Christian artists. While the separation between the two styles was never absolute — both drew from the
Methodist hymnal and artists in one tradition sometimes sang songs belonging to the other — the sharp division between black and white America, particularly black and white churches, kept the two apart. While those divisions have lessened slightly in the past fifty years, the two traditions are still distinct.
In both traditions, some performers, such as
Mahalia Jackson have limited themselves to appearing in religious contexts only, while others, such as
the Golden Gate Quartet and
Clara Ward, have performed gospel music in secular settings, even night clubs. Many performers, such as the Jordanaires,
Al Green, and
Solomon Burke have performed both secular and religious music. It is common for such performers to include gospel songs in otherwise secular performances, although the opposite almost never happens.
Although predominantly an American phenomenon, gospel music has spread throughout the world including to
Australia with choirs such as
The Elementals and
Jonah & The Whalers and festivals such as the
Australian Gospel Music Festival. Norway is home to the popular
Oslo Gospel Choir and most importantly
The Ansgar Gospel Choir.
