Setting the Gospel music record straight
By CHARLES KACHIKOTI
BECAUSE Christians in Zambia and other parts of the world still clash over what Gospel music is or should be, it is necessary to remind all interested parties about those things that are more important than endless debate.
This year has been a remarkable one for Christian music in Zambia. Matthew Ngosa, with the support of his more experienced musical brother Boyd, have managed to catch the ear and eye of every musically sensitive Zambian.
In short, they, with the admirable support of their family and the competent support of one of the singing groups at Northmead Assembly of God in Lusaka, have struck the right nerve in the national soul.
The album in question, Umutima Wandi, has accomplished what at least two generations of Zambian Gospel singers have waited for -- airplay and broad acceptance in secular corners, and congregational use of their songs for church services.
This year alone, the author has heard this music play in public places in such diverse towns as Lusaka, Mansa, Mongu, Mpika and Chipata. On top of that, the album has derailed new but aimless Zambian products from the non-spiritual sector to cling to the number two slot for more than 14 straight weeks on the Sounds Top 10, superseded only by the admittedly powerful and enigmatic Isambo Lyamfwa of the Glorious Band.
These factors make the Ngosa family album an extremely important product for historical reasons, and all the persons who played their part to make the songs what they are on the album deserve acknowledgment for an album of technical and spiritual substance. In case they did not know, they made history in more ways than one.
Lumbani Madoda have proved to have the most disciplined, most compact and most mature musical arrangements on the entire music scene at present. On the heels of Naluntutwe, an album that Christians loved and hated because of the lyrical reworking of P K Chishala’s song Chimbayambaya, this band came up with Mulibakatami. The last album is filled with songs of exceedingly rich praise towards God and a noticeable saxophone, an instrument always rare in Zambian music.
In Kabwe are the Adonai Pentecostal Singers whose worship-flavoured songs are now sung by traditional choirs in such places as Kaliza village in Chipata, not to mention many congregations across the country. This group has that unusual ability to constantly produce songs that become spiritual landmarks among the churches which, technical issues aside, is truly admirable.
The Egea Band, more popularly known as Zaoga (Zambia Assemblies of God in Africa), have played an outstanding role in their rhumba-centred style, building on a trend sparked by the Flaming Fire Band also of Kabwe in the 90s. Zaoga have shown gradual improvement with time. Within that music idiom, Jojo Mwangaza has emerged with a hot-chilli version of rhumba that has a strong appeal mostly among the youths.
Largely on account of these groups, and especially with the impact of Matthew and Boyd Ngosa, more Gospel singers are falling in love with the beauty of local language songs. That is excellent.
Prince Siame exploded on the scene about two years ago with his Kirk Franklinesque beat, paralleling the Reality band that pioneered R & B among Christian groups. The music was noticed and appreciated, though the artistes in question have seemed somewhat unable to follow up on their works to take their audiences a mile further.
Foundation
One of the tragic realities about all kinds of Zambian music is that there is almost no link between the old and the new generations. Looking back, it is possible to see that some individuals and groups of individuals played an important role in laying a reasonable foundation.
Few are aware that in the late 1970s into the early 1980s, Kenny Mwansa and the Golden Voices pioneered modern Gospel. Kenny with such important figures as Abel Mwale were in this group that made recordings of their folk-rock songs which, if reworked today, would command immense influence in the lives of many.
Unfortunately, they did their work in the lean years of Zambian music.
This pair was later to find its feet in the Chawama Baptist Singers, another very popular group whose maturity and unpretentious style gave their music great staying power. Sadly, the married couples in this group did not manage to hold the combination together and disbanded.
It is not that there were no choirs; in fact the 70s were the highpoint in the story of Zambian Gospel choirs. The point here is to focus on modern Zambian Gospel music.
In 1983 the Sowers produced an album River of Life under the leadership of Max Lubinda, an album that contained some memorable songs. This was possibly the first commercial recording of any contemporary Christian band in Zambia, featuring the electrifying vocals of Joe Ziba. The Jesus Generation of Kitwe promisingly sprung to light about the same time as The Sowers of Ndola who in later years were succeeded by The Word.
Ezekiel Shibemba appears on the scene. With the author, he formed the Love Band that from 1986 did four studio recordings in those lean 80s and produced two in the form of albums. This college band ran alongside Wilbur Simuusa and Aggrey Njungu’s Sounds of Faith at a time when it was nearly impossible to record in a local language and expect to be heard.
Ezekiel has gone on to produce solo works, often with a samba flavour. The author has in the meantime led groups such as the eight-member Joymusic into the studios (1993) and the 78-member Tehillah Voice into the studios (1997) apart from teaching voices, guitars and drums in churches.
Vocalist and drummer Musa Kasonka and people like guitarist Wonder Chulu then at Northmead Assembly of God choir played a key role in awakening musical instincts in many a musician. Unacknowledged brilliance that emerged during their time in the 80s includes that of bassist Alex Fundafunda and his rhythm guitarist brother Christian, and bassist Winston Chapa, men capable of reproducing any music under the sun.
Towards the end of the 80s, the Living Waters Band of Kabwe unleashed an album that won the hearts of many, particularly with Ichiwa and Only Jesus Alone. Icine made some noticeable music impact and ended there.
The Revival Band of Lusaka had creative ideas but somehow did not go above sea level.
In English-speaking Baptist circles will be found such rock-steady musical creatives like the unique Charles Bota who has stood alone in his own brand of appetising folk-rock. He needs to hit the studios.
The Psalms Singers of Woodlands Baptist produced a highly skilful piece of work in their 2001 album which, very strangely indeed, did not sell in the mainstream and was therefore broadly unnoticed after several years of polishing from the late 80s.
Fountain of Praise Band in Kitwe will always remember the vastly knowledgeable John Zulu whose talents and training would have played a huge role in transforming and uplifting Zambian Gospel had he not demised earlier in the year. Those who followed the works of the Victory Ministries Band, also of Kitwe, in the 80s and 90s, will remember that guitarist Nicky Kalonda did only one recording and left the country with two invaluable inspirational and worshipful songs like Tulibabomfyi ba Mfumu and Nikwi ningafuma kuchinso chenu?
Also vastly knowledgeable is Chala Tumelo of Ndola, another keyboardist of so far virtually concealed excellence who has quietly taught piano and sheet music to many souls down the years. Considerable experience is also deposited in such persons as Jordan Sichinga whose trail includes Jesus Generation and the Victory Ministries Band.
You cannot avoid referring to the highly expressive Heritage Singers who wowed the nation in the 70s and 80s. They ran into piles of cactus and have not continued, but the legacy of their leader John Mwesa, a trainer of music teachers now based in Kenya, remains. Out of this group have sprung groups like the Heritage Singers Quartet, who seem to have inspired the birth of teams like the Copperbelt based Habbakuk.
Keith Kapembwa emerged towards the end of the lean years with his brand of reggae Gospel, switching to a kalindula-garnished recipe in recent times.
His resilience amid serious adversity makes one sit up and listen. One remembers the ever-present but rather static Mufulira outfit Buntemwe Singers who have been around for nearly two decades.
If only our music recording and marketing outfits were more imaginative and more visionary, they would find much help in collecting, reproducing or re-recording some of the gems of Zambian Gospel music history.
Certain rumblings about the countryside would indicate that some of the veterans are about to return to the studio and the stage. The country definitely needs that, if only to lend weight and stability to the present scenario.
Trends
It is of great interest to the author that some church choirs have used music teachers from the New Apostolic Faith to teach them to sing.
The result is that traditional choirs like those of the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) for instance have polished remarkably. It is so even in the rurals where the author has seen teen choirs with sopranos as young as seven sing with such sheen as though they were graduates of music colleges.
Again, our music marketing outfits should not waste time and bribes in over-promoting fake musicians who have nothing more to offer and look at the entire country and the entire Church. There is a wealth of music imagination waiting to be captured and hoisted to the sky out there.
Emotions
So then, those believers and their churches that have taken a stand against contemporary Gospel music merely show the world that the Body of Christ has a basic problem with handling people’s emotions.
Our expressive disposition as Africans is God-given, not Satan-given. That has to be agreed about because the debate in church about Gospel music is a debate about culture. It is not a spiritual debate but a cultural clash.
The bulk of the missionaries who came to Zambia long ago came from Europe. They were normally stoic and staid, often glum with gloom, not because of the Bible but because of the stiff royal and cultural traditions and mannerisms of their countries. They imposed that on many of us in founding the church denominations we have today.
They did not know that in music there are three basic elements of melody, harmony and rhythm. They did not know that the Orient (Middle and Far East cultures) are strongest in melody, the Western (white people) are strongest in harmony, and blacks are strongest in rhythm.
Therefore, when the African cries he truly lets it out. When the African rejoices she truly lets it out. These are the deeper meanings of umusowa and nthungulu.
Africans dance and stamp their feet, and weave their bodies like no other race can. This in itself is not from Satan but from God.
But while Jesus Christ came to set men and women free, right in the place where His Word is preached, people who are in the pain of all kinds of frustration should not wail but be dignified. Is Church a hospital where every wounded soul should heal, or a concentration camp where every wounded soul should perish?
Those who are overwhelmed by what God has done for them should not clap, not dance but be dignified. Even if Psalm 149:3 and Psalm 150:4 are clear commands that people dance before their God!
This is why we continue to mishandle those who mourn because we fail to mourn with them; we prefer to scold and flatten them with hard, holy-sounding sayings. This is why we frown on those who come to church bubbling with joy, standing ready to flatten their overflowing exuberance before their God.
Some even teach that songs do not come from God but people merely put sounds together. Job 35:10 says God gives people songs in the night, night meaning the literal night when people think hard about life and living, and night meaning times of immense sorrow.
This is why the church worldwide stumbles over Kirk Franklin, a vibrant black American singer who has hauled into one festive mould former drug addicts, prostitutes, gangsters and all those friends of Jesus that churches want to avoid, singing and dancing to the glory of God.
Go and observe the teen choirs deep in our rural areas, many of those who sing and dance do so on empty stomachs because they manage only one meal a day; on broken hearts because parents are dead and they are not in school; on perplexed minds because big sister is terminally ill. But they still love Jesus! Take that away from them and what do they remain with?
We Christians keep quarrelling about the drowning man. Some want to save him by throwing a log or a float at him. Others want to throw a rope and hope he catches it so they pull him to the boat. Yet others want to shout at him what he should do. Then there are those who want to dive in and take him out. Why not let people do what is best and save that person?
Nay, Zambia is a nation in mourning. All Christian singers and musicians of Zambia should therefore, in the Name of Jesus Christ, arise and sing a new song with a new heart.
Do not sing to prove yourself, or to exalt yourself, or to disgrace or outflank someone. There is far too much hurt and pain all around you. There is far too much loss and suffering.
Fellow Levites, use the opportunity; sing to touch, sing to heal. Sing to assure, sing to comfort. Sing to save, sing to liberate. Sing to guide, sing to direct. Sing to teach, sing to alert. Sing to provoke, sing to inspire. If you sing together, you will sing forever. Zambia is listening.
By CHARLES KACHIKOTI
BECAUSE Christians in Zambia and other parts of the world still clash over what Gospel music is or should be, it is necessary to remind all interested parties about those things that are more important than endless debate.
This year has been a remarkable one for Christian music in Zambia. Matthew Ngosa, with the support of his more experienced musical brother Boyd, have managed to catch the ear and eye of every musically sensitive Zambian.
In short, they, with the admirable support of their family and the competent support of one of the singing groups at Northmead Assembly of God in Lusaka, have struck the right nerve in the national soul.
The album in question, Umutima Wandi, has accomplished what at least two generations of Zambian Gospel singers have waited for -- airplay and broad acceptance in secular corners, and congregational use of their songs for church services.
This year alone, the author has heard this music play in public places in such diverse towns as Lusaka, Mansa, Mongu, Mpika and Chipata. On top of that, the album has derailed new but aimless Zambian products from the non-spiritual sector to cling to the number two slot for more than 14 straight weeks on the Sounds Top 10, superseded only by the admittedly powerful and enigmatic Isambo Lyamfwa of the Glorious Band.
These factors make the Ngosa family album an extremely important product for historical reasons, and all the persons who played their part to make the songs what they are on the album deserve acknowledgment for an album of technical and spiritual substance. In case they did not know, they made history in more ways than one.
Lumbani Madoda have proved to have the most disciplined, most compact and most mature musical arrangements on the entire music scene at present. On the heels of Naluntutwe, an album that Christians loved and hated because of the lyrical reworking of P K Chishala’s song Chimbayambaya, this band came up with Mulibakatami. The last album is filled with songs of exceedingly rich praise towards God and a noticeable saxophone, an instrument always rare in Zambian music.
In Kabwe are the Adonai Pentecostal Singers whose worship-flavoured songs are now sung by traditional choirs in such places as Kaliza village in Chipata, not to mention many congregations across the country. This group has that unusual ability to constantly produce songs that become spiritual landmarks among the churches which, technical issues aside, is truly admirable.
The Egea Band, more popularly known as Zaoga (Zambia Assemblies of God in Africa), have played an outstanding role in their rhumba-centred style, building on a trend sparked by the Flaming Fire Band also of Kabwe in the 90s. Zaoga have shown gradual improvement with time. Within that music idiom, Jojo Mwangaza has emerged with a hot-chilli version of rhumba that has a strong appeal mostly among the youths.
Largely on account of these groups, and especially with the impact of Matthew and Boyd Ngosa, more Gospel singers are falling in love with the beauty of local language songs. That is excellent.
Prince Siame exploded on the scene about two years ago with his Kirk Franklinesque beat, paralleling the Reality band that pioneered R & B among Christian groups. The music was noticed and appreciated, though the artistes in question have seemed somewhat unable to follow up on their works to take their audiences a mile further.
Foundation
One of the tragic realities about all kinds of Zambian music is that there is almost no link between the old and the new generations. Looking back, it is possible to see that some individuals and groups of individuals played an important role in laying a reasonable foundation.
Few are aware that in the late 1970s into the early 1980s, Kenny Mwansa and the Golden Voices pioneered modern Gospel. Kenny with such important figures as Abel Mwale were in this group that made recordings of their folk-rock songs which, if reworked today, would command immense influence in the lives of many.
Unfortunately, they did their work in the lean years of Zambian music.
This pair was later to find its feet in the Chawama Baptist Singers, another very popular group whose maturity and unpretentious style gave their music great staying power. Sadly, the married couples in this group did not manage to hold the combination together and disbanded.
It is not that there were no choirs; in fact the 70s were the highpoint in the story of Zambian Gospel choirs. The point here is to focus on modern Zambian Gospel music.
In 1983 the Sowers produced an album River of Life under the leadership of Max Lubinda, an album that contained some memorable songs. This was possibly the first commercial recording of any contemporary Christian band in Zambia, featuring the electrifying vocals of Joe Ziba. The Jesus Generation of Kitwe promisingly sprung to light about the same time as The Sowers of Ndola who in later years were succeeded by The Word.
Ezekiel Shibemba appears on the scene. With the author, he formed the Love Band that from 1986 did four studio recordings in those lean 80s and produced two in the form of albums. This college band ran alongside Wilbur Simuusa and Aggrey Njungu’s Sounds of Faith at a time when it was nearly impossible to record in a local language and expect to be heard.
Ezekiel has gone on to produce solo works, often with a samba flavour. The author has in the meantime led groups such as the eight-member Joymusic into the studios (1993) and the 78-member Tehillah Voice into the studios (1997) apart from teaching voices, guitars and drums in churches.
Vocalist and drummer Musa Kasonka and people like guitarist Wonder Chulu then at Northmead Assembly of God choir played a key role in awakening musical instincts in many a musician. Unacknowledged brilliance that emerged during their time in the 80s includes that of bassist Alex Fundafunda and his rhythm guitarist brother Christian, and bassist Winston Chapa, men capable of reproducing any music under the sun.
Towards the end of the 80s, the Living Waters Band of Kabwe unleashed an album that won the hearts of many, particularly with Ichiwa and Only Jesus Alone. Icine made some noticeable music impact and ended there.
The Revival Band of Lusaka had creative ideas but somehow did not go above sea level.
In English-speaking Baptist circles will be found such rock-steady musical creatives like the unique Charles Bota who has stood alone in his own brand of appetising folk-rock. He needs to hit the studios.
The Psalms Singers of Woodlands Baptist produced a highly skilful piece of work in their 2001 album which, very strangely indeed, did not sell in the mainstream and was therefore broadly unnoticed after several years of polishing from the late 80s.
Fountain of Praise Band in Kitwe will always remember the vastly knowledgeable John Zulu whose talents and training would have played a huge role in transforming and uplifting Zambian Gospel had he not demised earlier in the year. Those who followed the works of the Victory Ministries Band, also of Kitwe, in the 80s and 90s, will remember that guitarist Nicky Kalonda did only one recording and left the country with two invaluable inspirational and worshipful songs like Tulibabomfyi ba Mfumu and Nikwi ningafuma kuchinso chenu?
Also vastly knowledgeable is Chala Tumelo of Ndola, another keyboardist of so far virtually concealed excellence who has quietly taught piano and sheet music to many souls down the years. Considerable experience is also deposited in such persons as Jordan Sichinga whose trail includes Jesus Generation and the Victory Ministries Band.
You cannot avoid referring to the highly expressive Heritage Singers who wowed the nation in the 70s and 80s. They ran into piles of cactus and have not continued, but the legacy of their leader John Mwesa, a trainer of music teachers now based in Kenya, remains. Out of this group have sprung groups like the Heritage Singers Quartet, who seem to have inspired the birth of teams like the Copperbelt based Habbakuk.
Keith Kapembwa emerged towards the end of the lean years with his brand of reggae Gospel, switching to a kalindula-garnished recipe in recent times.
His resilience amid serious adversity makes one sit up and listen. One remembers the ever-present but rather static Mufulira outfit Buntemwe Singers who have been around for nearly two decades.
If only our music recording and marketing outfits were more imaginative and more visionary, they would find much help in collecting, reproducing or re-recording some of the gems of Zambian Gospel music history.
Certain rumblings about the countryside would indicate that some of the veterans are about to return to the studio and the stage. The country definitely needs that, if only to lend weight and stability to the present scenario.
Trends
It is of great interest to the author that some church choirs have used music teachers from the New Apostolic Faith to teach them to sing.
The result is that traditional choirs like those of the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) for instance have polished remarkably. It is so even in the rurals where the author has seen teen choirs with sopranos as young as seven sing with such sheen as though they were graduates of music colleges.
Again, our music marketing outfits should not waste time and bribes in over-promoting fake musicians who have nothing more to offer and look at the entire country and the entire Church. There is a wealth of music imagination waiting to be captured and hoisted to the sky out there.
Emotions
So then, those believers and their churches that have taken a stand against contemporary Gospel music merely show the world that the Body of Christ has a basic problem with handling people’s emotions.
Our expressive disposition as Africans is God-given, not Satan-given. That has to be agreed about because the debate in church about Gospel music is a debate about culture. It is not a spiritual debate but a cultural clash.
The bulk of the missionaries who came to Zambia long ago came from Europe. They were normally stoic and staid, often glum with gloom, not because of the Bible but because of the stiff royal and cultural traditions and mannerisms of their countries. They imposed that on many of us in founding the church denominations we have today.
They did not know that in music there are three basic elements of melody, harmony and rhythm. They did not know that the Orient (Middle and Far East cultures) are strongest in melody, the Western (white people) are strongest in harmony, and blacks are strongest in rhythm.
Therefore, when the African cries he truly lets it out. When the African rejoices she truly lets it out. These are the deeper meanings of umusowa and nthungulu.
Africans dance and stamp their feet, and weave their bodies like no other race can. This in itself is not from Satan but from God.
But while Jesus Christ came to set men and women free, right in the place where His Word is preached, people who are in the pain of all kinds of frustration should not wail but be dignified. Is Church a hospital where every wounded soul should heal, or a concentration camp where every wounded soul should perish?
Those who are overwhelmed by what God has done for them should not clap, not dance but be dignified. Even if Psalm 149:3 and Psalm 150:4 are clear commands that people dance before their God!
This is why we continue to mishandle those who mourn because we fail to mourn with them; we prefer to scold and flatten them with hard, holy-sounding sayings. This is why we frown on those who come to church bubbling with joy, standing ready to flatten their overflowing exuberance before their God.
Some even teach that songs do not come from God but people merely put sounds together. Job 35:10 says God gives people songs in the night, night meaning the literal night when people think hard about life and living, and night meaning times of immense sorrow.
This is why the church worldwide stumbles over Kirk Franklin, a vibrant black American singer who has hauled into one festive mould former drug addicts, prostitutes, gangsters and all those friends of Jesus that churches want to avoid, singing and dancing to the glory of God.
Go and observe the teen choirs deep in our rural areas, many of those who sing and dance do so on empty stomachs because they manage only one meal a day; on broken hearts because parents are dead and they are not in school; on perplexed minds because big sister is terminally ill. But they still love Jesus! Take that away from them and what do they remain with?
We Christians keep quarrelling about the drowning man. Some want to save him by throwing a log or a float at him. Others want to throw a rope and hope he catches it so they pull him to the boat. Yet others want to shout at him what he should do. Then there are those who want to dive in and take him out. Why not let people do what is best and save that person?
Nay, Zambia is a nation in mourning. All Christian singers and musicians of Zambia should therefore, in the Name of Jesus Christ, arise and sing a new song with a new heart.
Do not sing to prove yourself, or to exalt yourself, or to disgrace or outflank someone. There is far too much hurt and pain all around you. There is far too much loss and suffering.
Fellow Levites, use the opportunity; sing to touch, sing to heal. Sing to assure, sing to comfort. Sing to save, sing to liberate. Sing to guide, sing to direct. Sing to teach, sing to alert. Sing to provoke, sing to inspire. If you sing together, you will sing forever. Zambia is listening.
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