Tongan
lea faka-Tonga
Spoken in	Tonga, American Samoa, Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Niue, United States, Vanuatu
Native speakers	126,000  (1998)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Polynesian Tongic Tongan
Official status
Official language in	Tonga
Language codes
ISO 639-1	to
ISO 639-2	ton
ISO 639-3	ton
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Tongan (lea fakatonga) is an Austronesian language spoken in Tonga. It has around 200,000 speakers^[1] and is a national language of Tonga. It is a VSO (verb–subject–object) language.

Related languages[link]

Tongan is one of the many languages in the Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages, along with Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan and Tahitian, for example. Together with Niuean, it forms the Tongic subgroup of Polynesian.

Tongan is unusual among Polynesian languages in that it has a so-called definitive accent. Like all Polynesian languages, Tongan has adapted the phonological system of proto-Polynesian.

1. Tongan has retained the original proto-Polynesian *h, but has merged it with the original *s as /h/. (The /s/ found in modern Tongan derives from *t before high front vowels). Most Polynesian languages have lost the original proto-Polynesian glottal stop /q/; however, it has been retained in Tongan and a few other languages including Rapa Nui.^[2]
2. In proto-Polynesian, *r and *l were distinct phonemes, but in most Polynesian languages they have merged, represented orthographically as r in most East Polynesian languages, and as l in most West Polynesian languages. However, the distinction can be reconstructed because Tongan kept the *l but lost the *r.^[3]

Tongan alphabet[link]

Tongan is written in a subset of the Latin script. In the old, "missionary" alphabet, the order of the letters was modified: the vowels were put first and then followed by the consonants: a, e, i, o, u, f, etc. This was still so as of the Privy Council decision of 1943 on the orthography of the Tongan language. However, C.M. Churchward's grammar and dictionary favoured the standard European alphabetical order, and since his time that one has been in use exclusively:

Notes:

1. written as g but still pronounced as [ŋ] (as in Samoan) before 1943
2. unaspirated; written as b before 1943
3. sometimes written as j before 1943 (see below)
4. the glottal stop. It should be written with the inverted curly apostrophe (unicode 0x02BB) and not with the single quote open or with a mixture of quotes open and quotes close. See also ʻokina.

Note that the above order is strictly followed in proper dictionaries. Therefore ngatu follows nusi, ʻa follows vunga and it also follows z if foreign words occur. Words with long vowels come directly after those with short vowels. Improper wordlists may or may not follow these rules. (For example, the Tonga telephone directory for years now ignores all rules.)

The original j, used for /tʃ/, disappeared in the beginning of the 20th century, merging with /s/. By 1943, j was no longer used. Consequently, many words written with s in Tongan are cognate to those with t in other Polynesian languages. For example, Masisi (a star name) in Tongan is cognate with Matiti in Tokelauan; siale (Gardenia taitensis) in Tongan and tiare in Tahitian. This seems to be a natural development, as /tʃ/ in many Polynesian languages derived from Proto-Polynesian /ti/.

Syllabification[link]

• Each syllable has exactly one vowel. The number of syllables in a word is exactly equal to the number of vowels it has.

• Long vowels, indicated with a toloi (macron), count as one, but may in some circumstances be split up in two short ones, in which case, they are both written. Toloi are supposed to be written where needed, in practice this may be seldom done.

• Each syllable may have no more than one consonant.

• Consonant combinations are not permitted. The ng is not a consonant combination, since it represents a single sound. As such it can never be split, the proper hyphenation of fakatonga (Tongan) therefore is fa-ka-to-nga, against which normal, English-oriented wordprocessors always sin.

• Each syllable must end in a vowel. All vowels are pronounced, but an i at the end of an utterance is usually unvoiced.

• The fakauʻa is a consonant. It must be followed (and, except at the beginning of a word, preceded) by a vowel. Unlike the glottal stops in many other Polynesian languages texts, the fakauʻa is always written. (Only sometimes before 1943.)

• Stress normally falls on the next to last syllable of a word with two or more syllables; example: móhe (sleep), mohénga (bed). If however, the last vowel is long, it takes the stress; example: kumā (mouse) (stress on the long ā). The stress also shifts to the last vowel if the next word is an enclitic; example: fále (house), falé ni (this house). Finally the stress can shift to the last syllable, including an enclitic, in case of the definitive accent; example: mohengá ((that) particular bed), fale ní (this particular house). It is also here that a long vowel can be split into two short ones; example: pō (night), poó ni (this night), pō ní (this particular night). Or the opposite: maáma (light), māmá ni (this light), maama ní (this particular light). Of course, there are some exceptions to the above general rules. The stress accent is normally not written, except where it is to indicate the definitive accent or fakamamafa. But here, too, people often neglect to write it, only using it when the proper stress cannot be easily derived from the context.

Although the acute accent has been available on most personal computers from their early days onwards, when Tongan newspapers started to use computers around 1990 to produce their papers, they were unable to find, or failed to enter, the proper keystrokes, and it grew into a habit to put the accent after the vowel instead on it: not á but a´. But as this distance seemed to be too big, a demand arose for Tongan fonts where the acute accent was shifted to the right, a position halfway in between the two extremes above. Most papers still follow this practice.

Articles[link]

English, like most European languages, uses only two articles:

• indefinite a
• definite the

By contrast, Tongan has three articles, and possessives also have a three-level definiteness distinction:

• indefinite ha. Example: ko ha pālangi ('a white person', or any other person from somewhere other than Tonga)
• semi-definite (h)e. Example: ko e pālangi ('the white person' in the sense that the person does not belong to some other race, but still rather 'a white person' if there are several of them)
• definite (h)e with the shifted ultimate stress. Example: ko e pālangí ('the white person', that particular person there and no one else).

Registers[link]

There are three registers which consist of

• ordinary words (the normal language)
• honorific words (the language for the chiefs)
• regal words (the language for the king)

There are also further distinctions between

• polite words (used for more formal contexts)
• derogatory words (used for informal contexts, or to indicate humility)

For example, the phrase "Come and eat!" translates to:

• ordinary: haʻu 'o kai (come and eat!); Friends, family members and so forth may say this to each other when invited for dinner.
• honorific: meʻa mai pea ʻilo (come and eat!); The proper used towards chiefs, particularly the nobles, but it may also be used by an employee towards his boss, or in other similar situations. When talking about chiefs, however, it is always used, even if they are not actually present, but in other situations only on formal occasions. A complication to the beginning student of Tongan is that such words very often also have an alternative meaning in the ordinary register: meʻa (thing) and ʻilo (know, find).
• regal: hāʻele mai pea taumafa (come and eat!); Used towards the king or God. The same considerations as for the honorific register apply. Hāʻele is one of the regal words which have become the normal word in other Polynesian. Opeti Taliai of the Tongan History Association explained that the regal vocabulary was ostensibly of Samoan origin ([Association: http://www.tongatapu.net.to/tonga/homeland/default_h.htm NoMoa non-profit website: History, culture etc.]). History tells that sometimes the Tongans really went to Sāmoa to invent a new regal word. The Sāmoans, instead gave them words with vulgar meanings in their language, and the Tongans, not knowing that, used them to their king.^{[citation needed]} Example 1: māimoa = labour of the king, either physical or mental (like the poems of Queen Sālote) from the Sāmoan maʻimoa = chicken illness, meaning: insane.^{[citation needed]} Example 2: lakoifie = good health of the king, probably from the Fijian lako-i-vē = walk to where?^{[citation needed]}

Use of polite and derogatory words can be illustrated as follows:

• polite: meʻatokoni (food, or more precisely: meʻa-tokoni: food-thing, i.e. foodstuff); This would be used in serious study books or in more formal situations, rather than the ordinary meʻakai.
• derogatory: mama (eat!); Words which normally would be used for the pigs. The word mama means "to chew" (along with various other meanings) in the ordinary register. A speaker would apply this word to himself and the commoners to emphasise the distance between him and the nobles or the king.

Pronouns[link]

The Tongan language distinguishes 3 numbers: singular, dual, and plural. They appear as the 3 major columns in the tables below.

The Tongan language distinguishes 4 persons: First person exclusive, first person inclusive, second person and third person. They appear as the 4 major rows in the tables below.

This gives us 12 main groups. In addition, possessive pronouns are either alienable (reddish) or inalienable (greenish). This marks a distinction that has been referred to, in some analyses of other Polynesian languages, as a-possession versus o-possession, respectively.^[6]

Cardinal pronouns[link]

The cardinal pronouns are the main personal pronouns which in Tongan can either be preposed (before the verb, light colour) or postposed (after the verb, dark colour). The first are the normal alienable possessive pronouns, the latter the stressed alienable pronouns, which are sometimes uses as reflexive pronouns, or with kia te in front the inalienable possessive forms. (There are no possession involved in the cardinal pronouns and therefore no alienable or inalienable forms).

Remember:

• all the preposed pronouns of one syllable only (ku, u, ma, te, ta, ke, mo, ne, na) are enclitics which never can take the stress, but put it on the vowel in front of them. Example: ʻoku naú versus ʻokú na (not: ʻoku ná).
• first person singular, I uses u after kuo, te, ne, and also ka (becomes kau), pea, mo and ʻo; but uses ou after ʻoku; and uses ku after naʻa.
• first person inclusive (I and you) is of course somewhat a misnomer. The meanings of te and kita can often rendered as one, that is the modesty I.

Examples of use.

• Naʻa ku fehuʻi: I asked
• Naʻe fehuʻi (ʻe) au: I(!) asked (stressed)
• ʻOku ou fehuʻi au: I ask myself
• Te u fehuʻi kia te koe: I shall ask you
• Te ke tali kia te au: You will answer me
• Kapau te te fehuʻi: If one would ask
• Tau ō ki he hulohula?: Are we (all) going to the ball?
• Sinitalela, mau ō ki he hulohula: Cinderella, we go to the ball (... said the evil stepmother, and she went with two of her daughters, but not Cinderella)

Another archaic aspect of Tongan is the retention of preposed pronouns.^{[citation needed]} They are used much less frequently in Sāmoan and have completely disappeared in East Polynesian languages, where the pronouns are cognate with the Tongan postposed form minus ki-. (We love you: ʻOku ʻofa kimautolu kia te kimoutolu; Māori: e aroha nei mātou i a koutou).

Possessive pronouns[link]

The possessives for every person and number (1st person plural, 3rd person dual, etc.) can be further divided into normal or ordinary (light colour), emotional (medium colour) and emphatic (bright colour) forms. The latter is rarely used, but the two former are common and further subdivided in definite (saturated colour) and indefinite (greyish colour) forms.

Notes:

1. the ordinary definite possessives starting with he (in italics) drop this prefix after any word except ʻi, ki, mei, ʻe. Example: ko ʻeku tohi, my book; ʻi heʻeku tohi, in my book.
2. all ordinary alienable possessive forms contain a fakauʻa, the inalienable forms do not.
3. the emphatic forms are not often used, but if they are, they take the definitive accent from the following words (see below)
4. first person inclusive (me and you) is of course somewhat a misnomer. The meanings of heʻete, hoto, etc. can often rendered as one's, that is the modesty me.
5. the choice between an alienable or inalienable possessive is determined by the word or phrase it refers to. For example: ko hoʻo tohi '(it is) your house' (inalienable), ko ho fale, '(it is) your book' (alienable). *Ko ho tohi, ko hoʻo fale* are wrong. Some words can take either, but with a difference in meaning: ko ʻene kahoa 'his/her garland' (which he/she is stringing for someone else); ko hono kahoa 'his/her garland' (which he/she is wearing, probably given by someone else).

Examples of use.

• ko haʻaku/haku kahoa: my garland, -> any garland from/for me
• ko ʻeku/hoku kahoa: my garland, it is my garland
• ko ʻeku/hoku kahoá: my garland -> that particular one and no other
• ko heʻete/hoto kahoa: one's garland -> mine in fact, but that is not important
• ko siʻaku kahoa: my cherished garland, -> any cherished garland from/for me
• ko siʻeku/siʻoku kahoa: my cherished garland, it is my cherished garland
• ko haʻakú/hoʻokú kahoa: garland (mine)-> that particular garland is mine(!) and not someone else's at all
• ko homa kahoa: our garlands, -> you and I are wearing them, but not the person we are talking to
• ko hota kahoa: our garlands, -> you and I are wearing them, and I am talking to you

Other pronouns[link]

These are the remainders: the pronominal adjectives (mine), indirect object pronouns or pronominal adverbs (for me) and the adverbial posssessives (as me).

Notes:

1. the first syllable in all singular pronominal adjectives (in italics) is reduplicated and can be dropped for somewhat less emphasis

• the pronominal adjectives put a stronger emphasis on the possessor than the possessive pronouns do
• the use of the adverbial possessives is rare

Examples of use:

• ko hono valá: it is his/her/its clothing/dress
• ko e vala ʻona: it is his/her/its (!) clothing/dress
• ko e vala ʻoʻona: it is his/her/its (!!!) clothing/dress
• ko hono valá ʻona: it is his/her/its own clothing/dress
• ko hono vala ʻoná: it is his/her/its own clothing/dress; same as previous
• ko hono vala ʻoʻoná: it is his/her/its very own clothing/dress
• ʻoku ʻoʻona ʻa e valá ni: this cloting is his/hers/its
• ʻoku moʻona ʻa e valá: the clothing is for him/her/it
• ʻoange ia moʻono valá: give it (to him/her/it) as his/hers/its clothing

Counting[link]

For 'simple' two-digit multiples of ten both the 'full-style' and 'telephone-style' numbers are in equally common use, while for other two-digit numbers the 'telephone-style' numbers are almost exclusively in use:

ʻOku fiha ia? (how much (does it cost)?) Paʻanga ʻe ua-nima-noa (T$ 2.50)

In addition there are special, traditional counting systems for fish, coconuts, yams, etc.

Literature[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Tongan is primarily a spoken, rather than written, language. The Bible and the Book of Mormon were translated into Tongan and few other books were written in it.^{[citation needed]}

There are several weekly and monthly magazines in Tongan, but there are no daily newspapers.

Weekly newspapers, some of them twice per week:

• Ko e Kalonikali ʻo Tonga
• Ko e Keleʻa
• Taimi ʻo Tonga
• Talaki
• Ko e Tauʻatāina

Monthly or two-monthly papers, mostly church publications:

• Taumuʻa lelei (Catholic Church)
• Tohi fanongonongo (Free Wesleyan)
• Liahona (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)^[7]
• Tonga star (Tokaikolo)

Calendar[link]

The Tongan calendar was based on the phases of the moon and had 13 months. The main purpose of the calendar to Tongans was to determine the time for the planting and cultivation of yams which was Tonga's most important staple food.

^[8]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• C.M. Churchward, Tongan grammar. ISBN 0-908717-05-9
• C.M. Churchward, Tongan dictionary

External links[link]

Tongan language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Planet Tonga
• Ethnologue on Tongan
• Omniglot on Tongan
• Basic online Tongan–English and English–Tongan dictionary

Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as (in terms of the varying music styles) to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music.

Like other forms of Christian music, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace.

Style[link]

	"How Great Thou Art" Yolanda Adams performs "How Great Thou Art" at the White House's Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement in 2010. "How Great Thou Art" audio only file
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Gospel music in general is characterized by dominant vocals (often with strong use of harmony) referencing lyrics of a religious nature, particularly Christian. Subgenres include contemporary gospel, urban contemporary gospel (sometimes referred to as "black gospel"), Southern gospel, and modern gospel music (now more commonly known as praise and worship music or contemporary Christian music). Several forms of gospel music utilize choirs, use piano or Hammond organ, drums, bass guitar and, increasingly, electric guitar. In comparison with hymns, which are generally of a statelier measure, the gospel song is expected to have a refrain and often a more syncopated rhythm.

Many attempts have been made to describe the style of late 19th and early 20th century gospel songs in general. Christ-Janer, et al. said "the music was tuneful and easy to grasp . . . rudimentary harmonies . . . use of the chorus . . . varied metric schemes . . . motor rhythms were characteristic. . . . The device of letting the lower parts echo rhythmically a motive announced by the sopranos became a mannerism . . ."^[1]

Patrick and Sydnor emphasize the notion that gospel music is "sentimental", quoting Sankey as saying, "Before I sing I must feel", and they call attention to the comparison of the original version of Rowley’s "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story" with Sankey's version.^[2] Gold said, "Essentially the gospel songs are songs of testimony, persuasion, religious exhortation, or warning. Usually the chorus or refrain technique is found."^[3]

History[link]

One can pursue the roots of gospel music through the academic discipline of ethno-musicology (going back to Europe and Africa), through a study of the 2,000-year history of church music, and through a study of rural folk music traditions. When it comes to the African American experience, gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century.^[4]

Coming out of an oral tradition, gospel music typically utilizes a great deal of repetition. This is a device to promote group participation.^{[citation needed]} And the repetition of the words allowed those who could not read the opportunity to participate in worship. During this time, hymns and sacred songs were lined and repeated in a call and response fashion, and the Negro spirituals and work songs emerged. Due to the enslaved Africans attending their masters’ worship services, the 17th-century influences on Negro spirituals and work songs were the traditional hymns which the enslaved had heard in worship services. Worship services served several purposes; not only were they a means by which the Africans could be monitored, but they also served as a reinforcement of the slavery indoctrination.^{[citation needed]}

Quite often, readings were from the Apostle Paul's writings which outlined being good servants and loving, obeying, and trusting one’s master. At this time it was also illegal for more than a handful of blacks to congregate without supervision. This meant that the black people were not free to worship on their own and had to attend worship services with their master. At these services, their understanding of Christian doctrine grew, and music played a role in that experience. The worship music (hymns) of the whites became the backdrop for the music that the enslaved Africans would use at their eventual worship meetings.^{[citation needed]}

Most of the churches did not have musical instruments to use. There would be guitars and tambourines available every now and then, but not frequently. There were not regular church choirs that existed at this time, and they did not use a piano very often. Most of the singing was done a cappella.^[5]

Gospel also lends some of its more modern roots to the mass revival movement (starting with Dwight L. Moody, whose musician was Ira D. Sankey) and the Holiness-Pentecostal movement.^[6] Prior to the meeting of Moody and Sankey in 1870, there was an American rural/frontier history of revival and camp meeting songs, but the gospel hymn was of a different character, and it served the needs of mass revivals in the great cities.^[7]

The revival movement employed popular singers and song leaders (starting with Ira Sankey) who used songs by writers such as George F. Root, P. P. Bliss, Charles H. Gabriel, William Howard Doane, and Fanny Crosby.^[8] The first published use of the term “gospel” to describe this kind of music was apparently in the 1870s. In 1874, P. P. Bliss edited a collection titled Gospel Songs, and in 1875 P. P. Bliss and Ira Sankey issued Gospel Hymns, no’s. 1 to 6, an extension of the 1874 Gospel Songs.^[9] Sankey and Bliss’s collection can be found in many libraries today.

The popularity of revival singers and the openness of rural churches to this type of music (in spite of its initial use in city revivals) led to the late 19th and early 20th century establishment of gospel music publishing houses such as those of Homer Rodeheaver, E. O. Excell, Charlie Tillman, and Charles Tindley. These publishers were in the market for large quantities of new music, providing an outlet for the creative work of many songwriters and composers^[10]

20th century[link]

Exemplification of gospel music: The Bible, which is the word of God for Christians and a CD that represents the music in general.

The holiness-Pentecostal movement, or sanctified movement, appealed to people who were not attuned to sophisticated church music, and holiness worship has used any type of instrumentation that congregation members might bring in, from tambourines to electric guitars. Pentecostal churches readily adopted and contributed to the gospel music publications of the early 20th century. Late 20th century musicians such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mahalia Jackson, Andrae Crouch, and the Blackwood Brothers either were raised in a Pentecostal environment, or have acknowledged the influence of that tradition.^[11]

The advent of radio in the 1920s greatly increased the audience for gospel music, and James D. Vaughan used radio as an integral part of his business model, which also included traveling quartets to publicize the gospel music books he published several times a year.^[12] Virgil O. Stamps and Jesse R. Baxter studied Vaughan’s business model and by the late 1920s were running a heavy competition for Vaughan.^[13] The 1920s also saw the marketing of gospel records by groups such as the Carter Family.

The first person to introduce the ragtime influence to gospel accompaniment as well as to play the piano on a gospel recording was Ms. Arizona Dranes.^[14]

In African-American music, gospel quartets developed an a cappella style following the earlier success of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The 1930s saw the Fairfield Four, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Five Blind Boys, the Swan Silvertones, the Charioteers, and the Golden Gate Quartet. Racism divided the nation, and these groups were best known in the African-American community, but some in the white community began to follow them.^[15] In addition to these high profile quartets, there were many black gospel musicians performing in the 1920s and 30s.

In the 1930s, in Chicago, Thomas A. Dorsey (best known as author of the song, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"), who had spent the 1920s writing secular music, turned full time to gospel music, established a publishing house, and invented the black gospel style of piano music.^[16] He had many trials in his life that he overcame concerning his health and his wife died. He dedicated all of his musical talent to the service of the LORD. Thomas gained knowledge of his religion from his father who was a Baptist minister and took up on piano from his mother who was his teacher. He started working with lack blues pianist when they moved to Atlanta.^[17] It has been said that 1930 was the year when modern gospel music began, because the National Baptist Convention first publicly endorsed the music at its 1930 meeting.^[18] Dorsey was responsible for developing the musical careers of many African-American artists, such as Mahalia Jackson.^[19]

Meanwhile, the radio continued to develop an audience for gospel music, a fact that was commemorated in Albert E. Brumley's 1937 song, "Turn Your Radio On" (which is still being published in gospel song books). In 1972, a recording of "Turn Your Radio On" by the Lewis Family was nominated for "Gospel Song of the Year" in the Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards.^[20]

Following the Second World War, gospel music moved into major auditoriums, and gospel music concerts became quite elaborate.^[21] In 1950, black gospel was featured at Carnegie Hall when Joe Bostic produced the Negro Gospel and Religious Music Festival. He repeated it the next year with an expanded list of performing artists, and in 1959 moved to Madison Square Garden.^[22] Today, black gospel and white gospel are distinct genres, with distinct audiences. In white gospel, there is a large Gospel Music Association and a Gospel Music Hall of Fame, which includes a few black artists, such as Mahalia Jackson, but which ignores most black artists.^[23] In the black community, James Cleveland established the Gospel Music Workshop of America in 1969.

Gospel music genres and subgenres[link]

This article is a part in a series on Gospel music

Roots and Beginnings  Christian Hymns Negro Spirituals Sacred Harp Shape note

Genres and Subgenres  Southern Gospel Gospel blues Bluegrass gospel Christian country music Country Gospel Progressive Southern Gospel Urban contemporary gospel Christian hip hop

Related Music Genres  CCM

Associations and Groups  Gospel Music Hall of Fame Gospel Music Workshop of America National Gospel Singing Convention National Quartet Convention Australian Gospel Music Association GMA Canada

Gospel Music Awards  GMA Dove Awards Stellar Awards Covenant Awards Singing News Fan Awards Australian Gospel Music Awards

Related WikiProjects  Christianity Wikiproject Gospel music Wikiproject Southern Gospel Wikiproject

Category  • Musicians See also: Christianity: Portal  • Category Christian music: Portal  • Category

This box: view talk edit

Urban contemporary gospel[link]

Urban contemporary gospel (sometimes still marketed as "Black gospel" to help distinguish it from other forms of Christian music) is a subgenre of contemporary gospel music.^{[citation needed]}

Gospel blues[link]

Gospel blues is a blues-based form of gospel music (a combination of blues guitar and evangelistic lyrics).

Southern gospel[link]

Southern gospel, is sometimes called "quartet music" by fans due to the original all male, tenor-lead-baritone-bass quartet make-up. This type of music deals with the everyday problems of life and how God answers those problems. Southern gospel depends on strong harmonies, often with extremely wide ranges (i.e. extremely low bass, falsetto tenor.) Flavors in Southern gospel range from ultra-traditional early quartet music (i.e. the Statesmen Quartet, circa 1940-50) to very cutting edge sounds (i.e. current Signature Sound quartet discography).

Progressive Southern gospel[link]

Progressive Southern gospel is an American music genre that has grown out of Southern gospel over the past couple of decades.

Christian country music[link]

Christian country music, sometimes referred to as country gospel music, is a subgenre of gospel music with a country flair, is also known as inspirational country. Christian country over the years has progressed into a mainstream country sound with inspirational or positive country lyrics. In the middle 1990s, Christian country hit its highest popularity. So much so that mainstream artists like Larry Gatlin, Charlie Daniels and Barbara Mandrell, just to name a few, began recording music that had this positive Christian country flair. These mainstream artists have now become award winners in this genre.^[24][25]

Bluegrass gospel[link]

Bluegrass gospel music is rooted in American mountain music.

Celtic gospel[link]

Celtic gospel music infuses gospel music with a Celtic flair, and is quite popular in countries such as Ireland; the Dublin Gospel Choir has had over 10 years' success with Celtic gospel music.

Controversies[link]

Some proponents of "standard" hymns generally dislike gospel music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, Patrick and Syndor complain that commercial success led to a proliferation of such music, and "deterioration, even in a standard which to begin with was not high, resulted."^[26] They went on to say, "there is no doubt that a deterioration in taste follows the use of this type of hymn and tune; it fosters an attachment to the trivial and sensational which dulls and often destroys sense of the dignity and beauty which best befit the song that is used in the service of God."^[27]

Gold reviewed the issue in 1958, and collected a number of quotations similar to the complaints of Patrick and Syndor. However, he also provided this quotation: "Gospel hymnody has the distinction of being America's most typical contribution to Christian song. As such, it is valid in its inspiration and in its employment." (Robert Stevenson, Religion in Life, Winter, 1950-51.)^[28]

Today, with historical distance, there is a greater acceptance of such gospel songs into official denominational hymnals. For example, the United Methodist Church made this acceptance explicit in The Faith We Sing, a supplement to the official denominational hymnal. In the preface, the editors say, "Experience has shown that some older treasures were missed when the current hymnals were compiled,"^[29] a diplomatic way of saying, "It's all right to sing these songs in church."

See also[link]

• Gospel Music Hall of Fame
• Gospel music WikiProject
• List of gospel musicians
• Museum of African American Music
• Phillip Paul Bliss House
• Soul music
• Stellar Awards

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Blackwell, Lois. The Wings of a Dove: The Story of Gospel Music in America. Norfolk: Donning, 1978.
• Boyer, Horace Clarence, How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel Elliott and Clark, 1995, ISBN 0-252-06877-7.
• Broughton, Viv, Too Close To Heaven - The Illustrated History Of Gospel Music, Midnight Books, 1996, ISBN 1-900516-00-4
• Albert E Brumley & Sons, The Best of Albert E Brumley, Gospel Songs, 1966, ISBN na-paperback Amazing Grace
• Cleall, Charles. Sixty Songs From Sankey. London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, Ltd., 1960.
• Darden, Robert, People Get Ready: A New History of Black Gospel Music Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005, ISBN 0-8264-1752-3.
• Downey, James C. The Gospel Hymn 1875-1930. University of Southern Mississippi, MA, 1963.
• Eskew, Harry. “Gospel Music, I” in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980), VII, 549-554.
• Goff, James R. “The Rise of Southern Gospel Music,” Church History, v. 67, no. 4, Dec. 1998, pp. 722ff.
• Hanson, Kenneth, The Hymnody and Hymnals of the Restoration Movement. Butler University, BD, 1951.
• Heilbut, Tony, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times Limelight Editions, 1997, ISBN 0-87910-034-6.
• McNeil, W. K., Ed. Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-94179-2.
• Stevenson, Arthur L. The Story of Southern Hymnology. Roanoke, VA: Stone Printing and Manufacturing, 1931.
• Zolten, Jerry, Great God A' Mighty!:The Dixie Hummingbirds - Celebrating The Rise Of Soul Gospel Music, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-19-515272-7.

External links[link]

Professional organizations[link]

Firebird Arts Alliance - Encourages all races and religions to join

Gospel Music Association - Acknowledges all forms of Gospel Music

Gospel News Today - Primarily Gospel News

Gospel Viu - Gospel Without Borders

Gospel Wire - Primarily urban contemporary gospel

Pacific Gospel Music Association - Known for Southern Gospel

Southern Gospel Music Association - Known for Southern Gospel

Media outlets[link]

Black Family Channel

Bobby Jones Gospel

Gospel Music Channel

The Inspirational Network

Christian Broadcasting Network

Daystar Television Network

Trinity Broadcasting Network

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