SPIRITUAL - ARTICLE - OPINION

‘Secular’ gospel music lyrics By Ananiya Alick Ponje In this era of modernisation, there are different effective ways of spreading God’s word. With the rapid growth of technology, spreading God’s message is becoming easier and more effective than it was prior to the 90’s. God has given different individuals different forms of gifts and these gifts are used to spread his word. One such gift is the music talent. Music is widely becoming a very effective tool of spreading God’s message nowadays. That is why many adverts about ‘a night of worship’ or ‘a great breakthrough’ and so on will have some subtitles like: so and so gospel group or solo will perform. Here, music performs two functions. First, it is a way of attracting people so that the audience that is going to patronize the ‘night of worship’ or the ‘great breakthrough’ will be large. People will be compelled to listen to the ‘actual’ preaching and other proceedings apart from the singing because it is impossible for the whole session to be dominated by music. So music can simply act as a ‘bait’ for attracting people. Music will also act as a way of preaching to the audience on its own because of the message that may be contained in it. The rhythm of music has the potential of provoking hard hearts up to reaching the point where one may be profoundly influenced by it. And even the tone of the song can be very effective on its own; hence some people will openly say that their main aim of going to religious functions where different gospel musicians perform is to listen to the music because ‘their hearts get moved by music’. However, it is possible to poison gospel music lyrics with the use of undesirable terminologies especially when trying to tally with the contemporary society. The music will turn to the nothing other than a piece that is solely aimed at entertaining the audience. Its underlying and most central purpose is going to be missed. For many times, I have heard some ‘unreligious’ lyrics in most contemporary gospel songs. At first, I thought this was only the case with the Western societies but I have discovered that it has quickly filtered into our own Malawian society like a joke. Phrases like Yesu ndi nyatwa (Jesus is super, if at all my translation is correct) and mayazi, ndine mfana wa Yesu (no, I am a child of Jesus, still if my translation is correct) which are found in some gospel songs sung by Malawians leave a lot to be desired. The idiolect is typical of the youth, but much as the artists try to make their music fit in the modern society, do they really think that Jesus himself smiles when he listens to their songs? Should modernization manipulate the traditional understanding of religious matters? In fact, much as the ‘unreligious’ lyrics are aimed at fitting into the modern society, one wonders whether those who listen to the songs ever take them seriously. A gospel song ought to be heart-searching and sentimental. But when it lacks these aspects, it becomes a secular piece taken only for entertainment. Most young gospel artists are just missing the whole point of their ‘calling’. Although attracting a big audience is a very imperative thing even in religious matters, it will be meaningless if the underlying aim is not achieved. Religious leaders should also take a role in advising young gospel artists on the ‘modest’ lyrics that are supposed to constitute their songs. It is no denying fact that the artists belong to different denominations which begs the question of how their leaders react to their songs. And the artists are usually featured by different religious leaders during their rallies. Let gospel music and its main aim not be marred by some ‘unreligious’ artists who do not understand the real motive of gospel music, but only think of tallying with the contemporary society while neglecting the actual aim of their gift.