The cool gospel craze

By Stevens Muendo

When American gospel artiste Kirk Franklin released his Revolution hit single in 1998 — a song co-written by Rodney Jerkins — there was a major stir in the Christian religious circles as mainstream conservative churches opposed the new gospel sound.

Kirk’s Nu Nation Project brought in a transition and engineered a revolution that caught religious folks — who had been used to the culture of "hymn book" praise — by surprise.

MOG

He goes on: "There is nothing wrong with the gospel going to the clubs. It’s the sick who need medicine. We need to minister to those who are not born again. And to minister to the youth we need the hype and swagger which comes with the Facebook and Twitter craze."

According to Daddy Owen, the urban gospel revolution has been on a consistent but gradual rise and time for its recognition has come.

He says: "Ours (gospel musicians) is to pass the message. After people get converted to Christ, it becomes the duty of pastors to nurture them through salvation."

Asked if it was about the money or the ministering, Daddy Owen was categorical that every effort in his music career was all about saving souls for Christ.

"I don’t understand how Christians can meet in clubs for evening fellowship. How can you discuss biblical matters in the den of sinners," wonders Dan, 24 claiming that christianity has been watered down.

However, Brenda, a youthful worship leader argues that the message of the cross is about grace.

Mavuno church

"So long as the pastor is not drunk, people should be allowed to come to church as they are.

"There is nothing wrong with getting the church trendy and hippy as it simply goes down to embracing with new communication trends," she asserts.

Hook ups

A joke was made on how young men leave the clubs on Sunday morning and head to church in the morning arguably to hook-up with ‘good’ girls.

One of the leading city churches has even been labeled the celebrities church and now hosts most of the showbiz biggest names in the contry.

From drunkards to drug addicts, the doors are open for all. The Sunday preachings are not harsh and do strongly condemn evil. However, gradually, after getting converted, young people are taken through mentorship classes where they are discipled on the fundermentals of Christian faith.

Mavuno church for example has ‘Mizizi’, a mentorship programme for newly converted and willing individuals — who could be struggling with various addictions.

The fact is local urban gospel music has grown in leaps and bounds over the last five years.

Producers like Robert Kimanzi (R Kay) has been on the forefront of producing quality gospel music and is giving secular producers a run for their money.

a breakthrough

"The adoption of modern beats into gospel music has helped gospel music grow to its current popularity," says R Kay.

"Fusing contemporary beats such as hip-hop, Lingala and Kapuka into gospel has given gospel a youthful appeal," he adds.

The revival of the gospel Groove Awards has also helped to ignite the new gospel flame.

"With competition comes quality. I believe Groove has helped popularise gospel music in Kenya. The awards bring gospel artistes together and strenghten the industry," says Groove awards organsier Kevo.

However, the breakthrough comes after major hiccups which had the pionners of the revolutioned suffering in the hands of consevative church leaders.

After releasing the hit song Fundi wa Mbao (off their album Zaidi ya Mziki) the Gospel Fathers suffered a blow from their local pastors who claimed the song demeamed the ‘personality’ of Jesus — the son of a carpenter.

And even Daddy Owen suffered criticism from a section of the church after he came up with the new Kapungala beat, donning his new dyed hair look.

‘’It is the content in the music that matters and people should stop judging gospel artistes harshly," defends Gait whose Huratiti is climbing up the charts.

And Victor Mbuvi concures: "We are only vessels through which God gets the message out there."