Snax 4 Da Soul 2:
- Kome Eleyae
- Jul 3, 2022
- 11 min read
Updated: Sep 11, 2022
The Gospel Backbone
of Baby-Making Music
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On my soul music travels last week, two songs shuffled their way into my consciousness and brought me into a state of internal conflict. The first was Tony! Toni! Toné!’s classic “Anniversary” from their “Sons of Soul Album” (1993); written by one of my favourite bassists/producers of all time - Raphael Saadiq - (formerly Raphael Wiggins). This is a smooth 90’s R&B heater of the highest degree, doused with the usual features: beautiful (often sexually suggestive) vocals stacked in really moving harmonies, an infectious drum machine rhythm, a funky guitar part and bassline, as well as a beautiful harmonic accompaniment on strings and keys. At around 04:40, the drum machine begins to drop out exposing the layers beneath, and I found myself transported to a deeply spiritual place that evoked the ethereal whisperings of gospel worship. A fulfilled and peaceful place.
Then there's the second song: Irma Thomas’ “Ruler of my Heart” (1963). The lyrics, style and instrumentation of this made me think it was a gospel song, but upon closer inspection, the writer Allen Toussaint described it as “a lonely classic of absence and lovesickness”. How can things that sound so spiritually reverent be such stone-cold baby-making classics? The relationship between the sacred and the profane is a common story that has played out in various ways across the arts for centuries. Specifically considering the relationship between the church and the dancehall in music of Black origin, I was loosely aware of this tension through my love of the soul greats from Ray Charles to Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Al Green and Aretha Franklin. However, I had never taken the time to really appreciate the ongoing relationship, and surprising synergy, that has propelled and ensured the dominance and influence of Black American artists for decades in popular music.
The relationship between music and religion has always interested me; both have had a deeply formative influence on me. My life is marked by religious music and countless church services of all kinds. From the Church of England traditions to the Catholic school that I attended from age 8-11, the church has been instrumental in my musical awakening; I engaged with worship through choral and congregational signing, played instruments in church ensembles, and listened to CD’s while my mum would cook our post service lunch on a Sunday.
After many years of serving as a senior civil servant, my mother had the calling to become a Church of England Vicar and was ordained 8 years ago. Although being immersed in a strong Christian environment might seem like something that adds to the weight of religious pressure on my back or even something that would solidify my faith, that is not always the case for the children of religious leaders. Thankfully, I consider myself blessed to have parents who understand these difficulties in my upbringing: difficulties such as the management of expectations, setting an example and upholding an image in relation to my mother and her role within the community. These all present tricky obstacles to a deeply personal relationship with God. Another difficulty was discerning between the maternal voice and the voice on the pulpit. However, to their credit, my parents always gave me the freedom to figure things out on my own terms, as long as I still respected the core values of morality and general kindness and, ultimately, knew where I came from.
All that being said, I do believe in the Christian God. And the details of that relationship are between me and her . Furthermore, I’m fully open to the fact that my faith is just as believable or far-fetched as the other major world religions. When you consider the often-overlooked similarities between a lot of faiths out there, I personally suspect that the ‘ultimate truth’ may probably be a combination of the lot. I think it can do nothing but enrich our overall world view to respectfully learn from beliefs different to our own. In public life, we are often forced into a binary world, operating within a overly simplified arena of ‘left’ and ‘right’. Yet, the demands of life are more nuanced than these two sides. This binary, amplified by media discourse, heightens the differences between us and provokes intense and often irrational emotions. I am a firm believer in learning and taking from all sides of the spectrum, picking from both sides of the aisle according to your specific needs. These needs should be ever changing as you grow and evolve through life.
Music, and specifically the relationship between gospel and soul/R&B, is a shining example of the beauty that is borne out of compromise and understanding; two warring genres with many shared characteristics that I believe grew into a unified musical language over time - a beautiful and rich language that is not only a celebration of blackness, but also a receipt of the price paid by those who made it in the first place.
Origins
To understand the relationship between gospel music and soul/R&B, it's critical to understand the story of popular American music. This tale just so happens to also tell the story of the transatlantic slave trade and the direct decendants of that ordeal. In basic terms, the story of popular music mirrors the emancipation of Black Americans over time. Notice I do not refer to black people in general here, nor do I attribute the development of popular music in its entirety to Afro-Americans. Alliance, compromise and borrowed ideas between all races has been a key ingredient in the wider picture. For example, the combination of country and R&B elements to create rock. Later, rock and R&B together formed the mother seeds from which popular music bloomed. But, it is largely African-Americans who have endured courageously through endless years of hardship for the rest of the world to benefit from their healing process. The rich, popular, and powerful content of jazz/soul/R&B/funk/hip hop is surely testament to that fact. This lineage is essential to understand; if not for general knowledge or for the purpose of reading this blog, then out of pure respect for the human cost behind the music that we love and listen to everyday. It can’t be taken for granted. But don’t just take my word for it! Listen to "Overture: A Partial History of Black Music" (Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration 1992). This is a great general illustration of this lineage and once you’ve heard it, I guarantee that the history will seem a bit clearer! https://open.spotify.com/track/0dG86McKfCtHI0V23pyYEy?si=177079d341044e2f
Thinking of the narrative of popular music as just one of the many consequences of the transatlantic slave trade is mind-boggling to me. The music that blossomed from these ordeals, whose effects are still ongoing, is experienced by millions daily. With that cultural power and influence, it is more relevant to life today than a lot of people care to admit and I believe the effects of this collective amnesia are extremely damaging. No doubt there are many atrocities that have happened before, and since, which have a lasting legacy today, however, there are certainly things of less significance that have happened more recently that we remember fervently. I’m not saying Afro-Americans and slave descendants should be directly compensated for their role in the formation of popular music, and reparations don’t necessarily have to be financial. But perhaps the “BRIT” awards and the “Grammys” should cede status to the “MOBO” awards before the origins of popular music are deleted from Western thought entirely.
Origins: Gospel
The origins of gospel lie in the Negro Spiritual - Christian songs performed by slaves. Slave owners couldn’t care less for the spiritual well-being of their slaves, however, they understood that religion could be wielded to exercise control over their subjects. Faith was not only a means of enforcing discipline but was also an axe that almost completely severed any links to an African past. This ensured the loss of thousands of years of culture, language and music that had developed across the continent. However, these “masters” seriously underestimated the resourcefulness, and persistence of their slaves. The enslaved population combined the Christian language with the surrounding instruments and spaces available, infusing the content with harmonic and rhythmic elements of jazz. The Negro spiritual became a musical language that acted as a spiritual crutch to lean on through turmoil, doubling as a codified language which screamed the cries for liberation. Songs such as “Go Down Moses” and “Steal Away to Jesus” could be accessed as a path to righteousness as well as a form of communication for runaway slaves. The enslaved population equated themselves to the Israelites in the Old Testament, waiting to find their promised land. Slaves could openly rebel, plot against and mock their captors right under their noses through song and dance. It's some of the coldest, most fun and most inspiring acts of resilience - one of the countless examples that make me proud to be Black.
The deep melancholy of the blues, which developed out of the expansion of jazz, married with the sound of the spirituals and birthed gospel music. Thomas Dorsey (father of gospel) was the earliest pioneer of this sound which was coined “The Gospel Blues/Holy Blues” and was further solidified by artists such as Mahalia Jackson (the queen of Gospel), The Caravans and Clara Ward.
Origins: Soul & R&B
The rhythms within jazz evolved in 1940s America. Blacks from the Southern states were moving to the North in search of greater freedom and more opportunities, thrusting themselves from farm and plantation culture into city life. Here, certainly musically, they enjoyed this new slice of freedom that was so stubbornly and reluctantly granted to them. Bebop, the Jump blues, and lindy-hopping were IN and the contemporary sound was typified by a driving rhythm section under a dancing horn accompaniment. The existing sound of contemporary jazz, combined with the deeply spiritual sounds of the blues, welcomed the driving rhythm section and formed the earliest examples of Rhythm & Blues. The sorrowful mood of the blues was replaced with something revitalising, a sonic liberation created from recycled elements of what they'd already produced. This music still told the story of blackness but on its own terms. It shone a light on the exuberance, energy and rhythm entailed in blackness and reclaimed the culture that the slave masters had tried to destroy.
Collision & Resolution
From the birth of soul in the 50s and 60s begins a battle between secular and non-secular. R&B and gospel, musical siblings arguing over legacy and inheritance, not appreciating the shared genealogy between them. R&B has been a contentious issue for many greats from Ray Charles to Sam Cooke, Al Green and Aretha Franklin. I understand why people get uncomfortable. The natural associations that you make between sound and environment can make things feel awkward and inappropriate. Even when the blues was popular, it was seen as the devil's music when adapted to a non-secular setting. However, this non-secular setting was where it could benefit from exposure to influences outside of the church, and that fed its way back into the church’s hallowed walls, coming full circle to enrich the genre. This is a common theme in all genres of music that can have both spiritual and non-spiritual application. The shared jazz ancestry of genres like gospel and R&B is the ultimate common ground in the story of Black music; a melting pot of factors that boils down to an outcry of black expression borne out of their dire situation and a resourceful approach to the miserable existence they found themselves in. Despite their differences, the two genres feel like different flavours of the same sauce. I believe the nuances that once distinguished them have become so small that now we’re left with little to taste the difference.
Let’s look at this again through the lens of Black liberation. The birth of these genres coincides with a development of Black thought that eventually shifted away from Christianity. This determined, more militant Black thought was pushed by the “do it yourself” Garvey-ism of the early 20th century. From that point forward, Christianity became increasingly associated with Black oppression, and Black Americans began wondering why their situation remained relatively unchanged despite endless prayer and worship. Malcolm X and James Baldwin who were immersed in, and present for, the creation of R&B in 1940s Harlem both speak on this.
“If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
“It is a miracle that a nation of black people has so fervently continued to believe in a turn-the-other-cheek and heaven-for-you-after-you-die philosophy! It is a miracle that the American black people have remained a peaceful people, while catching all the centuries of hell that they have caught, here in white man’s heaven!”
― Malcolm X, Autobiography
Both genres share origins and have similar functions as a device to spiritually uplift the listener. As time has gone on, the church has continued to produce and school musicians in its bluesy, jazzy, gospel music education. Whilst having to adapt and borrow from R&B and other outside influences in order to maintain its audience in a growingly agnostic world, this is where I think the two come together to form a single language. Where the range of ingredients are essentially the same, the differences are only discernible through lyrics. The issue of sacred versus profane is mute, because they both need to borrow from each other and outside sources to evolve. From the album title to the deeply soulful and choral lyrics, with the strong piano at the beginning, “Faithful to the End” placed my ear solidly in the walls of the church. But, as soon as he sings ‘she's a lover and a friend’, you know that this record was intended for a different purpose entirely, far removed from the conservative sexual values of the church. I can find peace with this. But to those who, from a religious perspective, get frustrated at the use of a sound with deep links to the church being used for different purposes, I ask…
"Isn’t the lord's work to make people dance and enjoy life anyway?"
“To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
Conclusion
Exalted. Lifted. Floating. The combined language of soul and gospel achieves this every time! In this sense, music is bigger than organised religion and in fact, gets to the point of what religion should be. A thin place. A lake of thoughtless awareness. A feeling of peace, understanding and elevation, derived from a personal relationship between you and whatever higher power the lottery of life has allocated you. Religion does achieve this but it is so often clouded by the worldly ambition that it preaches against. The paradox and beauty of faith is the uncertainty. None of us can say we know how and why we are here with absolute certainty. Even in the most enforced religions, true belief involves stepping towards it yourself. And it's a big investment… your potential afterlife is on the table. And that idea is rightfully terrifying to all of us. Today especially, it feels like any subject from which an opinion can originate sets the table for conflict; conflict between others as well as internally. My Christianity seems to pose as many new questions as it answers. To me, music seems to be one of those universal forces, as pervasive as common sense, that raises us to the same plane of being. Shedding worldly labels of religion and politics, and softening our rough edges as we ascend, or in my case free-fall, into peace.
Thank you for reading! If you found this interesting at all, please give it a like and share it amongst your fellow music lovers!
Peace & Love
and God Bless!
Kome Eleyae
AKA “Teknical KO”
Edited by: Segun Oyebanjo AKA "Shogun Shato"
& Misha Radkevitch of "Zero Press Collective"
Records
Below is a selection of records that I used for the research for this article. Some from my personal collection and a few loanees from Sugahill Cafe/Record Shop in Sydenham https://www.instagram.com/sugahillcafe/ (Huge thanks to them for helping me out!) And also a few bonus CD’s from my Dad’s collection. Feel free to have a browse!
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