MUSIC Gospel artists debate styles and substance

Some say many contemporary songs are fuzzy about their Christian message.
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Defining the Gospel is one thing. It's what Christians call the teachings of Jesus, or the story of redemption by his resurrection.
Explaining gospel music is more complex, especially in an era when gospel songs can range from old-time hymns to hard-core rap.
But the Gospel Music Workshop of America, a national organization founded in 1967, is attempting to do just that.
About 20,000 people will gather in Florida today through next Saturday for its annual convention. It will include a who's who of black church music, people with tambourines and organs, others with souped-up bass guitars: Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Hezekiah Walker, John P. Kee, Kurt Carr, Inez Andrews, CeCe Winans, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Dorothy Norwood, Albertina Walker, Tramaine Hawkins, Karen Clark-Sheard.
Choirs will fly in from Japan, Paris, Brazil, Canada and London. Agents will scope new talent during gospel showcases.
Other registrants will sit in on prereleased movie screenings, or choose from about 100 classes for musicians, singers, agents and pastors to earn certification in applied vocal or instrumental performance.
Changing scene
Before the Rev. James Cleveland founded the GMWA, there were few venues for singers to show their skills outside Sunday worship. The GMWA changed all that with an annual convention that serves as the meeting place for people in all walks of the business, ushering in what has become a multimillion-dollar industry.
But this gospel industry is not the same industry the Rev. Mr. Cleveland knew. In his day, you could tell a gospel tune by the fifth piano note, certainly by the first wail of "Jesus!"
Today, you might be rocking to a song on a secular radio station and never know it's a song about God.
Setting criteria
If the Gospel is God's word, then gospel music has to be "the word of God put to a melodic pattern," said the Rev. Arthur T. Jones, pastor of Bible-Based Fellowship Church in Tampa, Fla.
In other words, gospel lyrics have to come from the Bible.
Much of what he hears today doesn't fit, said the Rev. Mr. Jones, 55. Sometimes the songs don't mention God, Jesus or Lord.
There is no chorus about salvation or saving grace, only subtle inferences of goodness, morality, or the need for "someone" who can turn hard times around.
"If you have to wrestle with the lyrics of a song, if you have to tire yourself out trying to figure out who they're talking about ... it might be 'religio-tainment,' but it ain't God," Mr. Jones said.
Thomas Dorsey, considered by some the "father of gospel," raised eyebrows in the 1920s and 1930s with church songs set to bluesy beats. Still, Mr. Jones said, the content of Dorsey's songs always pointed to God.
The beat never overshadowed the words -- a key point for Mr. Jones. Dorsey's "Precious Lord" is in hymnals today, among the most famous gospel songs of all time.
Mr. Jones said he got many of his views from Mr. Cleveland, who studied under Dorsey. Known as the "prince of gospel," Mr. Cleveland died in 1991, but not before playing mentor to many gospel singers, including Mr. Jones.
Youth preferences
Frances Stallworth says she knows gospel, too. The adviser for the Florida A & amp;M University gospel choir said she was a student in FAMU's first gospel choir in 1957.
The college choir ranges from 100 to 200 students throughout the school year, she said. They sing all kinds of gospel music. But she likes traditional songs best.
They "have more ... meaning, more compassion," she said.
The students enjoy the more contemporary songs, with hip-hop beats.
"We older people have to tolerate it in order not to alienate the young people," she said.
But she does draw a line when students dance suggestively to the songs they sing.
"Sometimes I have to tone down their gyrations," Stallworth said. "I say, 'Listen now, this is gospel music. You're not on a ballroom floor; you're not in a juke joint!'"
Kirk Franklin's 1998 song "Stomp," with sampled beats from Funkadelic's "One Nation Under a Groove," set the stage for funky gospel, officially called "urban contemporary."
Outreach tool?
How would Mr. Cleveland feel about today's gospel music?
He thought gospel was primarily for Christians, says Al Hobbs, executive vice chairman of the GMWA, who has been with the organization for 33 years.
Artists have begun to use it, not only to uplift the saved, but as an evangelical tool that appeals to outsiders.
Modern gospel falls under three categories, Hobbs said.
UTraditional: Choir music and hymns intended to touch Christians in the pews.
UContemporary: Goes beyond the sanctuary. It can be performed in church, but "not necessarily Sunday morning music."
UUrban contemporary: "Designed to mirror the rhythms of today." Intended for radio and TV videos or stage performances. It reaches people who may not come through the church doors. "Eventually, they'll get to hear that hard-core [traditional] message," Hobbs said.
Megachurches are full of kids and teens who "find him [Jesus], not in ways our grandmothers and grandfathers found him," Hobbs said. "Nothing stays the same forever. Everything is in continual motion, with the exception of a Christ who never changes."