The first exploration of the history of UK black gospel music, featuring a foreword from a leading figure in British gospel Gospel music is a rapidly emerging genre and its effect and influence on other areas of the record industry cannot be underestimated. The style of gospel is wide, and apart from the traditional hymn-based choir arrangements there is a whole range of subgenres incorporating soul, jazz, funk, reggae, r'n'b, calypso, classical music, hip hop, and praise and worship which form part of this colorful and inspirational market. The roots of modern black gospel are traced here from 19th-century black pioneers such as Thomas Rutling and the Fisk Jubilee Singers to the contemporary sound of the London Community Gospel Choir. Steve Alexander Smith tells this story with a wealth of anecdotes, photos, and research that includes more than 100 personal interviews. An accompanying audio CD celebrates the spectrum of British black gospel.

Black British Gospel Music is a dynamic and multifaceted musical practice, a diasporic river rooted in the experiences of Black British Christian communities. This book examines gospel music in Britain in both historical and contemporary perspectives, demonstrating the importance of this this vital genre to scholars across disciplines. Drawing on a plurality of voices, the book examines the diverse streams that contribute to and flow out of this significant genre. Gospel can be heard resonating within a diverse array of Christian worship spaces; as a form of community music-making in school halls; and as a foundation for ‘secular’ British popular music, including R&B, hip hop and grime.

This volume is the appendix to volume one and includes notes, bibliographies and related materials. Since the Second World War more than 1,000 black independent congregations in around 300 different organizations have sprung up all over Britain. The immigration of Afro-Caribbeans and West Africans has led to the emergence and growth of many churches, which flourish in the cities and attract a growing number of members. They now play an increasingly active role in the social and ecumenical life of the nation, which is reflected in cooperation with the 'New Instrument' of the British churches. They comprise a rich diversity of theological traditions and cultural inheritance, some in an interesting blend, some in a struggle with white elements. Existence and growth of these communities have often been explained by factors inherent in British society, such as social deprivation and English racism. The book attempts to prove that, as much these factors are a reality, they do not account for the dynamics of the movement, its proliferation and stability. Rather these congregations are carried by strong cultural and theological forces, which molded the spiritual experience of the African diaspora. They carry a living faith, sound contextual theologies, and a form of organization, which presents a model for other ethnic minorities.

In this very readable book, Roy Francis tells a personal story of growing up in a Black Pentecostal home and how, as part of the Windrush generation, his parents, like many others from the Caribbean came to Britain for the chance of a better life. This book explains the problems they faced. The religious climate they found, and their music. He explains why his parents left Jamaica to come to Britain, describes the country they came to, the environment they found, how they attempted to adjust, the religious climate in the country, and how when they faced racism, this was something entirely new to them. Many were Christians and members of the established church in the West Indies. He tells their story, explains what happened to them when they went to worship and contrast this with Pentecostals who had their own way of keeping their religious flame burning. In the 1980s, another equally important migration took place. Africans started coming to Britain. Roy explains what attracted them to the country, highlights the success they had, contrasts this with earlier Caribbean experiences and considers what is likely to happen in the future. This is a timely book that shines a light on British religious life rarely written about, but one that's been a great success story, the Caribbean and African Christian migration to Britain.

Since the Second World War more than 1,000 black independent congregations in around 300 different organizations have sprung up all over Britain. The immigration of Afro-Caribbeans and West Africans has led to the emergence and growth of many churches, which flourish in the cities and attract a growing number of members. They now play an increasingly active role in the social and ecumenical life of the nation, which is reflected in cooperation with the 'New Instrument' of the British churches. They comprise a rich diversity of theological traditions and cultural inheritance, some in an interesting blend, some in a struggle with white elements. Existence and growth of these communities have often been explained by factors inherent in British society, such as social deprivation and English racism. The book attempts to prove that, as much these factors are a reality, they do not account for the dynamics of the movement, its proliferation and stability. Rather these congregations are carried by strong cultural and theological forces, which molded the spiritual experience of the African diaspora. They carry a living faith, sound contextual theologies, and a form of organization, which presents a model for other ethnic minorities.

Black British musicians have been making jazz since around 1920 when the genre first arrived in Britain. This groundbreaking book reveals their hidden history and major contribution to the development of jazz in the UK. More than this, though, the chapters show the importance of black British jazz in terms of musical hybridity and the cultural significance of race. Decades before Steel Pulse, Soul II Soul, or Dizzee Rascal pushed their way into the mainstream, black British musicians were playing jazz in venues up and down the country from dance halls to tiny clubs. In an important sense, then, black British jazz demonstrates the crucial importance of musical migration in the musical history of the nation, and the links between popular and avant-garde forms. But the volume also provides a case study in how music of the African diaspora reverberates around the world, beyond the shores of the USA - the engine-house of global black music. As such it will engage scholars of music and cultural studies not only in Britain, but across the world.

Music has been at the heart of Christian worship since the beginning, and this lavishly illustrated and wonderfully written volume fully surveys the many centuries of creative Christian musical experimentation. From its roots in Jewish and Hellenistic music, through the rich tapestry of medieval chant to the full flowering of Christian music in the centuries after the Reformation and the many musical expressions of a now-global Christianity, Wilson-Dickson conveys 'a glimpse of the fecundity of imagination with which humanity has responded to the creator God.' Book jacket.