Gospel reggae: Tropical vibes of praise!

Now back to happier topics! Six months ago I discovered a new genre of music: gospel reggae. I don't know about you my Christian brothers and sisters but at least for me this phenomenon is a whole new discovery that I didn't know existed and I'm so excited about it! I haven't found yet my personal favourite artist of this genre but once I'll find it I'll definitely buy my first gospel reggae album. I actually almost prefer gospel reggae to more traditional gospel soul though I consider both so touching and uplifting. I also suppose that I've mentioned that I love also secular reggae my favourite artist of the genre being Ziggy Marley. Because I haven't found a significant artist of the gospel reggae genre yet I'm not quite sure yet how to present the genre for the other newbies.

Gospel reggae naturally originates from Jamaica and sounds exactly the same as the secular reggae only difference being Christianity-themed lyrics. Several reggae artists, many of whom were previously part of he Rastafari movement, have converted to Christianity and adopted gospel reggae as their primary style. Examples include Tommy Cowan, Carlene Davis, Nora Dean, Papa San, Sanchez and Lieutenant Stitchie. Lester Lewis has been described as a pioneer of gospel reggae, having won the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Gospel Song Competition in 1989 with "Every Time I Read My Bible." The popularity of gospel reggae has been seen as a sign that reggae has taken broader hold in Jamaica, having previously been strongly identified with the Rastafarian community. To me personally the first gospel reggae artists that I heard were June J. Wright, Judith Gayle, Chevelle Franklyn, Christafari, Sherwin Gardner, Sanchez, Sister Patt, Marvia Providence and Donna Marie. I've heard the most music by Judith Gayle so I'll probably provide some kind of a review of her production after showing the big picture.

Best of Christian Reggae Parts 1 & 2

Chevelle Franklyn, Queen Of Gospel Reggae: Number One

Judith Gayle

Judith Gayle was born in Clarendon, Jamaica. Judith began her music career in the 1980's singing with secular artist and as a cabaret singer in Jamaica's most prestigious hotels. From ever since she could remember music has always been her love. She traveled to the Cayman Islands to perform in 1983, and when she was about 14 years of age, she auditioned for the Tastee Talent Competition but wasn't selected. Judith relocated to Negril to reside with her brother who owned and operated several businesses along the northern coastal areas. She was eventually employed with Hedonism II Resort as 'a singing entertainer' and she entertained on the North Coast of Jamaica for approximately ten years. In 1998, Judith was the first runner up in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Popular Song Competition with her first single "Mi Na Lef Jamaica". She then teamed up with Lady Saw to record a song entitled "Matey". Judith was also a back-up singer for Ritchie Stephens.

In 1999 her life changed as God captivated her heart at a local church in Clarendon where she was invited by a friend. Judith's early years as a young Christian brought seemingly unbearable serving of loss, heartache, despair, fear, pain, struggle and suffering. Having been stripped of everything and isolated in misery, she experienced brokenness in God who taught her to smile again. Judith is currently a proud member of the Overcomers Christian International. Beside her native Jamaica Judith's career prospers also in Canada, in the USA, England, the Caribbean and in various other countries.
Judith Gayle has released and produced five studio albums: Jesus Is Alive (2000), The Sun Shines Again (2003), Broken to Be Blessed (2006), Designed to Worship (2009?) and her latest album I Believe (2012) which I'll review. Judith produces and writes or co-writes all her music.

Judith has been privileged to share a stage with Pastor Donnie McClurkin (who has dubbed her "the Jamaican Whitney Houston"), CeCe Winans, Rev. Jackie McCullough, Papa San, DJ Nicholas, Alvin Slaughter and many others. In the early fall of 2004 Judith was invited to minister at Canada's Premier Gospel Award Event, the Maja Awards. She is the Two (2) time Marlin Award Nominee and winner of the Jamaica's Mega Jamz award for the best female artist in 2009. In 2009 she was also awarded by the Mega Gospel Awards as the best female vocalist of the year. Judith names Shirley Caesar, F.C. Barnes and Carol Carridice as her musical influences.

Now God has inspired her through her experience to pen and publish her first book, "Preserving the Soul." Through her experiences God has taught her the importance of a healthy soul. "Preserving the Soul" teaches you about the effects of sin on the soul and the plans of the enemy to destroy the soul. You will also discover how through the power of God you can restore a soul that has been tormented and bound by the enemy. She is also currently pursuing a Degree in Theology. Judith is also in the restaurant business and she's an entrepreneur. She would like to teach people about business and also how to have the attitude of Christ displayed in your business. Judith wants to be financially balanced because she wants to help people and establish a women's ministry. She also wants to train gospel artists and help produce their music. She has also a women's cloth boutique. Judith loves also baking, listening to Latin music and counselling and encouraging others.

I Believe (2012)

Judith Gayle is only a minor act but this album should promote her to a rising star. This album exceeded all my expectations as I thought it would sound cheaply made and cheesy but I was SO wrong! I also expected that there would be more ballads than upbeat reggae songs but luckily it's the opposite way. Judith Gayle's most recent album opens with light, summery, even a bit sensual dancehall or house influenced and autotuned "Rejoice In The Lord" which sounds very modern and trendy (could be played on MTV!). It continues with a mellow, carefree roots reggae influenced vibe of "God Is So Good" which is one of her most recent singles from the album.
The third track "It Is Not I" continues with mellow, relaxing, hopeful vibes explaining how God works through your troubles. It sounds like a mix of roots reggae and pop/rock and house.
The fourth track "God Is Amazing" opens with elegant piano sounding like a live song with cheering audience. Judith's vocals are amazing on this beautiful, smooth ballad joined by female backing vocals. The fifth track is Judith's second current single and the title song "I Believe" which is probably the most cliché and cheesiest song on the album. It's a touching, bright piano ballad as well. Judith is joined by deeply humming backing vocals.
The sixth track "Roll Away" continues the similar mellow roots reggae vibes already heard in "God Is So Good". The song tells about that bliss how God takes away your burdens. It's groovy and fun with horns and mellow backing vocals. I consider Judith's vocals smooth, soulful, deep and dark.
The seventh track "Turn It Around" is my least favourite on the album being the most melancholic track on the album with heavy rock influence (electronic guitars and psychedelic piano). It's of course only a taste question as this song is undoubtedly the strongest one on the album and Judith still continues shine with her vocals. 

I was positively surprised about the versatile repertoire of influences heard on the album. I'm hearing dancehall or house influences, roots reggae, soul and R&B, pop, hiphop and even a bit of rock, Latin and African influences on the album. All in all the sound is very strong, smooth and fresh which shows that her production is flawless, extremely professional and very well done. This album is so empowering and uplifting and it offers you perfect worship music for summer and will keep you warm on winter! I highly recommend for the young audience or anybody who loves these genres. This album is so upbeat that it makes me wish that I could dance along its songs like "He Brought Me Out"!

This album manages to give Judith also a high profile by its many collaborations including "Switch" featuring Courtney McClean, "He Brought Me Out" featuring Sista Sasha, "I Will Wait Till My Change Has Come" featuring Kevin Downswell, "Heaven" featuring Kerron Ennis, "I Will Never Let You Down" featuring Eddie Neblett and the closing track "Thank You Lord" featuring Alleluia Bwoy. These tracks with collaborations are probably the best songs on the album.

Grade: 8/10. It would be wrong to give her a grade less than this because I loved each and every song except "Turn It Around". Her vocals sound nearly flawless whereas the whole production is extremely very well done, "huge" and professional and so flawless but this album doesn't sound overproduced on any level. I would have given this album 9/10 just for the great sound but I had to give her some minus points as I haven't got enough proof of her active creative control over her recording. I've grown to realize that she may have it a little but maybe not enough to give her the full props of a singer-songwriter. If I had to find something more a bit negative to say the album feels pretty long to listen to though it gives you a beautiful, enjoyable experience but I'd have probably shortened the album to 15 songs instead of 17.

     

Whitney Houston - complexity of black and white

Dear Christian brothers and sisters. First let me explain the choice of my title. In my opinion it simply describes her supposed personality and her stormy life. About her being a complexity of black and white - her father was a white American while her mother Cissy was African American and she was critized for "not being black enough". Also looking back at her life, she had her black (dark) and white (light) sides also from spiritual ankle: She began as an innocent young woman from a gospel choir and though she was claimed to be God-fearing until the last day of her life, she was infamously taken by drug addiction and alcoholism.
I also think that for once it would be refreshing to concentrate only on her music, to enjoy it and write about it, because media is currently full of enough negative stories and rumours about her and we should also try to see the goodness in her which indeed is her music. I also think that we should wait until her mother Cissy Houston will pen and publish an appropriate biography about her daughter telling no more or less than the truth and this has been confirmed to happen. Cissy Houston is being quoted by the New York Times as saying:" I want to stop the lies, it's going to be the bad. It's going to be the good." So this time I'll entirely leave her personal life and even details of her career ignored and just offer you a review of The Preacher's Wife (1996) soundtrack, her most famous gospel album and the highest-selling one in the world.

Before I continue I have a message to my readers: I haven't been around my blog for long time but now I've found lots of inspiration and reasons to keep this up. Also since that I haven't been around for so long time I've missed some comments on my views that have been mostly positive and I appreciate it, but today I also came to realize that there have been some misunderstandings and negative response that I'd like to correct. Please do read some of my previous, older blog posts placed under label "tolerance" so you realize that I'm not here to judge and being narrow-minded. The ones that I've written yet are mainly about cultural and racial tolerance but now there seems to be a necessity to me to express my tolerance more clearly towards different worldviews and religions.
To begin with, my boyfriend has no religion and neither has one of my best friends and I respect it. Christianity is about tolerance and forgiveness as I've expressed before. After all we can't know for sure whether the Jewish, the Christians or Muslims or atheists are right. These worldviews are just our opinions and choices that feel good for us. We shouldn't go to faith wars or other judgements because it doesn't change anything, it's useless. Let's allow happiness for each other. Also, if you read my very first blog post you'll see that I've actually been an atheist for the most of my current life and received Jesus only in 2007 so I do understand also non-believers, I do remember my past :).
Also now that I'm writing about someone as complex as Whitney I truly want to avoid misunderstandings! Yes, the Bible obviously judges drugs and alcoholism but it isn't mortal people's business to judge Whitney, there's no use for that, human is powerless over universe's might. Only God can do that whether He chooses, but Christianity is a religion of forgiveness and I frankly believe that Whitney might be forgiven as well as she likely had faith. After all in Whitney it's only music that should matter for us and we should enjoy it and leave the speculation over her personal life. I'm also glad to admit that though I'm a believer myself I'm far from perfect and I truly am a sinner . I'm sober but from Christianity's ankle I've commited sin in other ways and I should watch my tongue :). Jealousy is my second biggest sin but I'm working so hard on my weaknesses and dreams to overcome this sin in order to be happy with myself. I hope that my long explanation satisfies the ones who had wrong perceptions.
I will be also very surprised if after this post I get any hate-mail because in my opinion I even talk(ed) beautifully and respectfully about Houstons and if I manage to attract any new readers, they should check out some of my very first blog posts because I've clearly said that I see spreading tolerance as one of the missions of this blog. I'm also a member of the Red Cross movement so judgement is out of my values. There's got to be moral in order to the world to stay in order, but Christian moral is moral of humanity. Also if we find something against our moral and values instead of judging we should look into our own imperfection and most importantly make sure that we won't do the same acts that we're judging about. Let others do whatever they want as long as it's not against the law (and now I'm talking about mortal people's laws written by governments). Does this make any sense to you? I hope that after this I can talk freely in my next posts without any need of explaining my views anymore. Just don't make any hasty conclusions anymore, please! I'd like to concentrate on my subjects free from any need to convince anyone because this wasn't the original idea behind my blog: The original idea was just to express myself and talk about everything that I like, that's all. To soften a little, constructive criticism is of course welcome regarding my writing but if there will be any more judgement which is a whole different thing, I'll delete the opportunity to comment because I really don't want to correct anybody's hasty conclusions anymore. It takes so much space from my actual issues and I really want to keep the handling of my issues as high quality as until now. The quality of my work mustn't decrease.     

The Preacher's Wife Original Soundtrack Album (1996)

Also now that I'm moving on to my actual subject, the review, there's one more misunderstanding that I'd like to correct and that I found from the comments. I have never said in any way in any of my few album reviews until now that spiritual or gospel music would be made by God or come straight from God. No, NO, no. Gospel and spiritual music is made by mortal very talented people who just express their views and experiences on God and spirituality through their creative work and those views could be as well wrong or right.Also when I say that I can relate to the message that an artist wants to forward and I say that I find comfort in it, those artists just by chance have similar experiences and views as I have. As you can see, here I am explaining this with the same principle as I did on the worldviews above. Nobody knows the secret behind universe and the answer behind life and being. It feels really stupid and hilarious that I even have to correct someone on this subject. One of my best friends is an atheist as I said and she checks this blog out sometimes but she has never said anything this hilarious about me that I'd interpret faith in this extreme, crazy way. I don't even think that it has ever crossed her mind that I'd think in this way.
For secular readers who maybe by accident stop by this blog, I can also tell that my taste of music and movies is a lot wider than my blog lets you understand. To be honest, my mp3 contains currently more secular music than gospel so I don't differ from you as much as you might think. Actually, you can find a blog post from here from the year 2010 telling about Shakira whose hips a strict believer would find satanic, but I have more her albums than anybody else's. I also admire Ziggy Marley and many other mainstream or secular artists though I'm currently mostly into soul and R&B (I even read Rolling Stone!). 
You have to realize that I decided to establish a spiritual blog so I only publish here posts that suit to that concept but my own personality is a lot wider than this concept. So you see here just a part of me. There are many kind of Christians, many differents churches and lifestyles but you'll see that mine is one of the most laid-back ones. I also have to remind any new reader or any atheist stopping by that I see mainly Christians, especially Christian women as the target group of my blog, but as you can see from the list of my followers, there are also men reading this and possibly someone representing Jews and Muslims as well.  I'm very glad about the variety of members coming from different backgrounds because it shows that I've succeeded in my mission in some level but the same time my blog hasn't been meant to attract atheists in any way, at least not if the purpose of stopping by here is judgement.   

I feel like taking a deep breath after all this explaining, it feels so vain... Now I'll finally move on to music. Whitney recorded and co-produced with Mervyn Warren this album including six gospel songs with Georgia Mass Choir that were recorded at the Great Star Rising Baptist Church in Atlanta. One of these sings songs was "I Love The Lord" that begins with sweet, rather silent piano notes and Whitney begins with silent, melismatic notes, little by little lifting her smooth voice, casting some high runs, continuing with melismatic low notes until the high notes return along with the orchestra and Georgia Mass Choir joining in. The whole arrangement is really smooth and peaceful. The song ends with strings and orchestra section with a typical impression of soundtrack music.

So Whitney sang in this album also few songs without Georgia Mass Choir or any other collaboration joining in but I rather wouldn't comment on each song of this album because the songs after all sound pretty similar together and to my ears this is strongly a ballad album filled with quite many slow songs that actually make the whole entity pretty lame and boring but it doesn't mean that this album would be entirely worse or that I wouldn't appreciate "The Voice". Even the ones recorded with Georgia Mass Choir sound pretty similar and the main sound of this album is really soft and you maybe even could fall asleep with it. The collaborations with other artists spice up this album giving it at times those few welcome upbeat songs that may appeal more to younger listeners. Those few upbeat songs whether with or without collaborations barely manage to save the spirit of the album from not being as boring as it could be.
"My Heart Is Calling" is a smooth R&B ballad sung by Whitney by herself and it's one of my favourites with soft, sleepy, humming background vocals. This is one of the slow songs but I'd name this anyway as one of the refreshing pieces that may appeal to younger listeners of my age as well. I think the song may sound even a little bit retro, a little bit 80s but it's very comfortable.

Whitney duetted in the album also with Shirley Caesar in the song "He's All Over Me". This album became the highest selling gospel album in the world by selling six million copies worldwide. Its two singles were "I Believe In You And Me" and "Step By Step" which was originally written by Annie Lennox."Step by Step" is an uplifting, upbeat song which begins with introduction that I'd describe as eternal, giving me an imagination of heaven or light blue summer sky. The song is a disco beat in my opinion giving you courage to believe in your dreams and keep fighting for them though there might be tribulations in the way. A very sunny and positive song, one of the most dear ones for me in the album. "I Believe In You And Me" was a luxurious ballad with full of hope and tender feelings towards your sweetheart. The trumpet brings the luxurious spirit to the song that I mentioned. Whitney sings some parts of it a cappella and her voice is simply amazing in the top moment of the song, "I believe in miracles.../".

Her mother Cissy Houston who has been known as a gospel singer had also her star moment in the album as she joined Hezekiah Walker And The Love Fellowship Crusade Choir in the song "The Lord Is My Shepherd". When I hear this song beginning it feels to me like a traditional hymn and I'm really not a hymn person but prefer more contemporary takes on gospel music. It begins with the choir singing silently and then Cissy Houston continues with her voice that at first seems to bear resemblance to that of Whitney's but then I'd actually compare it to Mahalia Jackson's. But when I listen to the song further it makes me take all my previous words back and I see it as a deeper, more mature version of Whitney's, her casting rather high notes. And actually when I listened to the song further and further, the sound world reminds in some funny way about The Sound Of Music. This song is my least favourites in the album because of too many high voices at once.

I think the smoothest, most R&B oriented song in the album is the massive collaboration "Somebody Bigger Than You And I" with Bobby Brown, Faith Evans, Monica, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant. It begins with Bobby Brown rapping and continues with Whitney's beautiful, expressive, bright, at times high vocals. Then Bobby Brown continues singing with his voice that obviously divides opinions. In my opinion his voice is pretty good and soulful, a pretty usual sounding male voice in soul music, but I'd describe it also chaste, rough and maybe even breaking or broken... Well, drugs obviously influenced his voice as well but this is my one last comment that I grant for Bobby Brown. I honestly don't know if it's Johnny Gill or Ralph Tresvant that continues after Brown's sung part but I have to say the difference is huge: Would it be Tresvant or Gill, he's able to sing some really high notes though he has this low baritone of a male gospel singer. Soon after that Faith Evans continues with her unique, colourful vocals... shade of her voices is changing constantly. Then Monica continues the rest of the verse with her velvety, high vocals as I like to describe them. Her voice is also deep and in my opinion it has clearly darker shade than in Whitney's voice, there's a clear contrast which is obvious. Then once again there's a male voice and I can only guess whether it's Tresvant or Gill as I don't know their music (I'd be glad to hear in the comments below who is who)... In my opinion his voice sounds rather feminine in the end of the verse and otherwise I'd describe it maybe a little bit nasal and bouncy. His voice is really interesting because I can hear also roughness in his runs. Then the cycle of voices starts spinning around and I find it useless describing the voices of the collaborators again as I already did. Anyway, the female voices including Whitney sing the backing vocals through the song. The lyrics of this song make me see this as more or less a children's song. "Who Would Imagine A King" featuring The Nativity Choir is clearly a children's ballad and Whitney sang it to children in the movie's scene.

GRADE: 7, 5 out of 10 because this album is after all good and it has obvious historical value but always when reviewing some piece of work we have to try to see its position among other ones with similar concept and now I have to say that regardless the acclaim and mostly positive feedback this album has received, it doesn't manage to bring out very much new approach or unique ideas for gospel music. The concept of this album seems to be somewhere between Mary Mary's Thankful and Aretha Franklin's One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism so it brings out only things that we've already seen. Also, though Whitney co-produced this album that's not enough creative control over her work from my ankle to grand her an 8 or 9.          

India.Arie - Soulsister of us all

Dear Christian sisters and brothers. There's been so much going in my life that I nearly have stopped writing this blog though I'm both in Bloggers and BlogFrog. I'm so greatful that more and more people find my blog though I haven't been active for really long time. I've been really busy with my baccalaureates and I have to start preparing for my English baccalaureate this month or on December. Six months ago I also became a mum so I feel that I truly have had time almost for everything or everyone except myself. I want to be honest and say that I'm really exhausted and that may be another reason why you haven't heard from me for so long time. In my previous posts I talked much about my struggles and I really feel like those struggles are taking over me and they're just getting bigger and bigger. I think I've been also before in the same situation but now once again I feel like losing my belief in myself and maybe even in our Lord Jesus Christ. I still pray for God to help us but I'm getting really hopeless and disappointed, because from my ankle things are just getting worse. I keep asking: What if I fail my baccalaureates? What if I can't get the education that I want to? What if I'll remain jobless? What if my dreams won't become true? How am I supposed to help people when I need this much help myself?

The thing is that for a couple of months I have felt like losing connection to myself and God. The past weeks I have felt like I don't even know myself anymore. I've been also asking: What happened to that strong-willed dreamer that I've been the last 10 years? Am I becoming a cynical loser? At secondary school (few years ago) I even wrote an entire speech on that how you mustn't listen to doubtful voices from anyone on the journey of realizing your dreams. I wrote that you must keep believing and fighting no matter what because your patience shall be rewarded when it's time. I presented it in the school radio, playing in the end "When You Believe" by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. I didn't mention God in my speech but my speech took place only shortly after my heart had accepted Christ. And I have to say that becoming a Christian has been the happiest moment in my life yet. This speech means to me very much because until now dreams have meant to me the most in my life. Dreams make life worth of living I think. Actually my very own motto has been Without a dream there's no life. I think it's true because I think none of us would even live if our parents wouldn't have first dreamt of finding the ideal partner and then dreamt of having children with him or her. So dreams give us life, they form it little by little :). The speech was also an important moment to me, because as a shy and vulnerable person I had for the first time in my life enough courage to speak from my heart on the subject that I find important.
So the question is: Why should I give up? Have I worked so hard for the last 10 years for nothing? The old good sister Mary somewhere deep inside of me says:" No, your effort shall be rewarded. Just stay positive and keep praying, wishing, dreaming and believing."

So after all I still seem to have connection to myself and faith in God though I'm going through hard times :). My secret is music ;). I realized that if I lose myself, the person that I have became thanks to God, I find my positive attitude, my values and beliefs once I open my mp3. It's trange how you can find yourself from music and relate to songs of some singer-songwriter who lives on the other side of the world and who you have never met. To me India.Arie is an artist like that but I do have many others too :). From her music I find belief in myself and God and I find my values, including anti-racism because you may know her new album Open Door made together with an Israeli singer-songwriter Idan Raichel will be published on spring 2012 and it will carry that message.

Acoustic Soul

Acoustic Soul was India.Arie's debut album published in 2001. Until 2007 she was signed to the legendary Motown but she's currently signed to SoulBird of Universal Republic. Unfortunately I don't own this great album yet but I've been listening to it on Youtube. The album opens with a psychedelic guitar solo and continues with the first actual song, Video, which was her first single declaring self-respect and accepting and loving yourself though you're not "an average girl from the video". She wants to say that inner beauty is the most important and we mustn't be turned down by media's narrow beauty perceptions. You can be beautiful without having model's measures and expensive clothes. This funny, care-free song is one of my favourites from the album. Promises is a jamming guitar r&b song and one of the absolute gems of the album. This song speaks to me, because my boyfriend promises good things to be happened so often but then he's never good as his word. I think the song tells about a similar incident. India.Arie's self-written lyrics are absolutely deep and spiritual. She talks much about God but I wouldn't call her work actual gospel. Her another single from the album, "Brown Skin", is another declaration of self-respect and also admiring your man for his colour. It's pride of your ethnicity and loving yourself with the features that God has given you. It's simply beauty and confidence inside a soulful ballad. The album continues with a soulful, powerful song "Strength, Courage and Wisdom" which has helped me a lot with self-confidence and faith.

India.Arie has a special, a little bit of flagrant voice which is still soft and feminine. I think "Nature" sounds maybe the most of all songs in the album a mainstream soul and r&b song. Its soft beats are rather usual but then the high piano notes bring something sensitive, a bit sad and vulnerable to the song. She uses nature's changing seasons as a metaphor of her relationship which seems to be uncertain if it continues or not. Also this song is touching me. "Back to the Middle" is once again a jamming guitar soul song telling about confidence and staying in focus. Especially this song has helped these days when it's been difficult to me to stay focused and being in connection with myself and remembering the heart of everything. "Ready for Love" is a dramatic, sensitive ballad with guitar, strings and piano telling about that how you're ready to be loved by a man of your dreams but he hasn't appeared yet. This song touches me deeply, because she talks about an artistic, spiritual man who follows his heart. I think the album is full of jamming, good beats, deep thoughts and sensitive ballads. India.Arie is absolutely a special artist who's under-rated in the mainstream radio, because of her spirituality and unusual vocals. To me this is pure art and HEART.

Grade: 10. I gave the highest grade because to me this is musically and artistically perfect.

Voyage to India

India.Arie's second album Voyage to India is even more psychedelic than its predecessor and she received her first of four Grammy Awards from it (The Best R&B Album). Album's few introductions "Growth", "Healing" and "Gratitude" tell about facing the life the way it is and following the guiding spirit of God. "Little Things" is a cute and sweet single from the album flavoured with children's laugh and soft r&b beats. It tells about appreciating the small joys in life. "Talk to Her" is a psychedelic song for a man asking him to speak respectfully for his woman. "Slow Down" is one of the gems of the album with tasty r&b beats telling about that how we shouldn't rush to the future but live in this moment. "The Truth" is a beautiful, soft ballad talking about finding your soul-mate. "Beautiful Surprise" is a wonderful guitar ballad telling also about finding the right man, the man of your dreams that you prayed for. I think a jamming song "Get It Together" touches me the most in the album because it tells about that how your friends and kin hurt you most easily and you've been hurt for many years because of those relationships. It tells about that how you should let their past lies be past and heal your body and soul. I've been through this what the song tells about. I think in this album India's voice and music all in all are much softer than in its predecessor and it sounds very mainstream r&b. I own this album and I listen to it always when I have stress or sleeping difficulties. It truly helps me to fall asleep and relax. "Headed in the right direction" is another gem of the album with groovy guitar and soft r&b beats. This song reminds of that when I have love and faith in God I'm headed in the right direction and I can't go wrong. "Can I Walk With You" is once again a soft, joyful, soulful single telling about finding the one for you and how you want to marry him. "The One" continues with the same theme and it's one of the gems with strong r&b beats. "Complicated Melody" is a playful description of boyfriend, played completely by guitar. "Good Man" is the saddest song from the album that makes my heart ache because it tells about that how parents of a child broke up. The album ends with a silent, peaceful declaration "God Is Real" giving reasons for its declaration.

Grade: 8,5. The album is good but artistically it's less brave than its predecessor. The album is so tame that it's almost boring but it's perfect for relaxation and meditation.

God gave freedom to Mandisa

Mandisa is just like Jennifer Hudson and Anthony Evans in the same person - musically. But when you compare Mandisa to Jennifer Hudson you'll find even more similarities. Here in Finland they do show at least some seasons of American Idol but also Idols the Finnish version of the programme has been popular over the years. But I still bet if I tried to make a street gallup here asking:" What do you think of Mandisa?" people would ask me back:" Who is she?" because gospel is the least selling music genre in Finland and there's no doubt of it as youth listens here mostly rock and heavy/metal and it's more like a rule than exception that their attitude is atheism rocks, religiousness mocks. But even Jennifer Hudson is more famous in this distant Northern part of the globe: at least all youth should know her name and I guess her genre r&b is quite popular here too. She's famous here about her collaboration with Alicia Keys and Beyoncé. So what's in common with Jennifer and Mandisa anyway? They both have struggled with overweight and made it (both have smaller bodies by now). They both are Americal Idol dropouts but have managed to sign record deals anyway. They both record more or less r&b oriented music with a message of self-respect for young girls. And they both have more or less strong vocals. But what's the difference? Jennifer has won a Grammy and Mandisa hasn't.

But let's forget about Jennifer and let's move on with Mandisa. It's unbelievable that Mandisa hasn't won a Grammy Award though she has been a nominee twice. I think she has lots of potential and she stands out from the crowd of other gospel/Christian singers anyway. Her sound is outstanding! Or that's how I experienced it when I started searching for as great gospel/soul singers as Aretha Franklin to backfill my MP3. Gospel music is of course available in Finland but according to my experience it's difficult to find if you don't know what you're looking for - because of small demand. So last summer I headed to Jango.com and customized my own gospel radio Blessed Bliss FM (my nickname being MissHeart) - and there was Mandisa! Despite those similarities to Jennifer Hudson I think she does her job a lot better: Mandisa's music is more vary than Jennifer's as it's a mixture of r&b and Contemporary Christian Music. That makes her more interesting as an artist. Mandisa's message for self-respect and appreciating inner beauty is much stronger than Jennifer's or of any other Christian artist's: Trin-I-Tee 5:7 refer to self-respect in a couple of their songs and Mary Mary doesn't sing about it but they speak for inner beauty.

Mandisa Lynn Hundley was born on October 2nd 1976 and she grew up in Citrus Heights area of California. She was brought up by her mum as her parents divorced when she was only 2-years-old. Every other weekend she went to church with her step-mum and her father. She was molested as 8-years-old and raped as 16-years-old. She started to link being beautiful with being in danger and that's how her food addiction started: She started eating in front of TV because it made her feel comfortable and she realized the heavier she got the less men looked at her. She felt protected because a shield of flesh surrounded her. She told in an interview that she became a Christian as 16-years-old. Also on this day she says that God has helped her to overcome her overweight and her sophomore album Freedom was inspired by that: the first single from the album was called My Deliverer and it's her testimony. Of March 2009 she had reportedly lost 75 pounds and hoped to lose a total of 100 or more.

Her name Mandisa is of African origin and it means sweet. I think the name describes her. There's not even a bit of diva in her - her three current albums have sold only few hundreds of thousands altogether and it doesn't make her a millionaire. I think she's genuine in all of her interviews and as she talks from her heart about faith and struggle it makes her a truly warm person. She's also amusing, her big smile is attractive - and she smiles a lot! She's beautiful from both inside and outside. So she's definitely worth her name. After graduating from El Camino Fundamental High School she attended American River College in Sacramento where she studied Vocal Jazz. Then she studied at Fisk University in Tennessee and graduated with a bachelor's of music degree with a concentration in vocal performance. She currently lives in the suburban Nashville community of Antioch, Tennessee. For those who want a more thorough biography of her should read her book IdolEyes which was published on May 9th 2007.

Album reviews

I think this is Mandisa's more r&b oriented album. It begins with a joyful r&b jam called Only the World which tells us not to be turned down by our problems and worries, because God is there for us: the worldly problems are nothing compared to that joy that we'll reach in heaven. This song helps me when I'm sad or having a bad day. The next also joyful r&b song is the title song of the album saying that True Beauty comes from the inside not from outside and it praises how God made us beautiful - it also jokes about media's surreal beauty perceptions. The next two songs are stunning Contemporary Christian music and they both flatter Mandisa's strong vocals: God Speaking is a touching piano-oriented song telling how God is present in our lives whatever happens. Voice of a Savior is a song that's having a conversation with its listeners as it tells how people are searching for truth and fulfillment from various places (including drugs, money and ambition) but how the one and only truth lies in the arms of Jesus. Song's lyrics are fabulous and all Mandisa's songs are shining with lyrical talent and every song has a deep meaning.

Another contemporary Christian artist, Matthew West , has helped Mandisa to kick off her impressive career as he participates in writing the lyrics and composing the songs for her with other professionals including Cindy Morgan. Regardless, Mandisa's albums are convincing of their frankness - Mandisa's voice is heard throughout the production as the songs bring out her own spiritual experience and the values she wants to represent. Mandisa namely participates more or less on songwriting and has had a small influence on composing Only You. Love Somebody is a joyful r&b beat which actually could be played on mainstream stations. It also contains a part of rapping. Unrestrained is a praise song in style of Contemporary Christian Music. It's a beautiful slow jam. Mandisa's Shackles (Praise You) is a jazzy r&b cover from its original singers Mary Mary. (Never Gonna) Steal My Joy is CCM and a pretty typical pop song. Oh, My Lord is a testimonial r&b song with an influence straight from Africa's continent and it's one of my favourites in this album. Only You is a praise song on how God makes us happier than anything we have on Earth. He Will Come is a pretty piano piece on God's love upon us and strings accompany the piano in the end of the song. Mandisa's singing is perfect through all album.

My final grade: 9 -

Mandisa's sophomore album Freedom is clearly her stronger effort. My Deliverer is Mandisa's testimony on how God set her free from her food addiction and the lyrics are written the way that I can identify to them. I believe that others can too. This album is strongly CCM and How Much is a beautiful pop song on how God doesn't abandon us whatever we do and how He loves us endlessly. It's my favourite of this album. He Is With You has pretty similar message and this song has a spirit of Adult Contemporary music because of its down-to-earth and quite melancholic bass guitar sounds. Mandisa continues spreading her word on inner beauty with her strong, confident song The Definition of Me that's written to bring confidence for young girls. Not Guilty is once again a song with strings and piano on how we expect we'll end up in Hell but by God's forgiveness we'll end up in heaven. Leave It in the Valley is a joyful song to cheer you up on bad days, convincing you of God's care. Victorious is a country-like guitar song telling how we're stronger and more confident when God is with us. Broken Hallelujah is a song about broken heart and feelings of losing hope and faith but at the same time looking up to God. Freedom Song starts with gospel choir, then it changes into catchy r&b beat and it's one of the pearls of this album. Dance, Dance, Dance is Mandisa's second Mary Mary r&b cover. The last track of the album is a heart-breaking You Wouldn't Cry (Andrew's Song) with bright piano. Mandisa participated composing Freedom Song and Not Guilty.

Final grade: 8,5 because this album keeps repeating the same themes and messages she had in True Beauty. Also her creative control in her work is pretty small but still this album keeps being believably Mandisa and her voice is strong and impressive like before. She also collaborated with the same people like in the debut. Unfortunately the sound of the album wasn't as good anyway. Mandisa still has lots of potential for winning a Grammy one day. Working with the same people and talking about the same issues might be a strength that can turn into weakness. People get fed up with it. This is my opinion but I think that if they gave her more creative control or let her do the whole lot herself she could give her full potential and doors for the Grammy would be open. She also must give up the same themes and issues - even changing her collaborators would make miracles. I suppose these changes would turn her into a Grammy winner. Mandisa's next album What If We Were Real will be released on April 2011 and I put those hopes in it. And now that Christmas is coming it's the best time for checking out her Christmas album It's Christmas which was published in 2007.

Musical peacemaker of religions

According to my perception Felix Maria Woschek was born to German, Christian family. His spiritual music is one of the most touching ones I've ever heard. Why did I name him as a musical peacemaker of religions? Because he's famous for "unusually placing his music in the service of religious spirituality, but without favouring any one religion in the process". His musical genre is New Age but I absolutely love how religious his albums are: He sings Indian bhajanas and mantra songs of Jews and Sufi muslims. He has also made Gregorian chants in the pentatonic scale and as I said, Jewish songs and Islamic hymns. Because of his music's religious variety it could be soundtrack of my blog when opening the page, because I want to use God's word for increasing tolerance just like he does by his music. I love how he has sang also Old Testament psalms as Psalms are one of my favourite books of the Bible. He has been said to succeed in creating understanding between religions and in opening people's hearts towards other cultures.

He started singing as a child in Aachen's minister choir and that's how he found Western spiritual music. Singing the works of great masters and and the entire Gregorian liturgy made him a deep impression and he has described them as "mystical experiences". As a young boy he tried various genres of music from rock and blues to jazz. He even learned to play e-guitar that he still uses today with his music. But as 22-years-old he got so frustrated about "professional" music that he quit guitar playing, because he didn't find satisfying contents. After that he experienced a phase of serious illness and for a few years he struggled with life and death. In his quest for healing and recognition he went to India where he met Sathya Sai Baba. That was his first time of listening to Indian bhajanas and they touched him deeply. He bought an Indian reed organ and started singing these songs himself. This music healed him and that's how he found music again and since then he his only desire has been to make music of the heart. He's very talented as he does the graphic design of the albums himself and he composes and records all his pieces himself.

Album reviews


Shalom Salam Vol. 2 is inspired by violence and destruction between Jewish and Arabic people to create peace and understanding between the parties. His wife Elke and Persian Sufi and ney master Mohammad Eghbal together with a Jewish singer Rebecca Vilensky and drummer Raimund Engelhardt have joined him in the creative process of turning this precious piece of work into reality. Though finding peace between muslims and Jews is the main point of this album it begins with two traditional meditative mantras from Hinduism sung in Sanskrit ("Gurubandana" and "Shri Krishna"). Woschek has absolutely beautiful, peaceful, low and expressive singing voice. The sounds he creates with his instruments are simply heavenly. I have to say I love the sound of ney (sufi flute). He also uses acoustic and electric guitar, e-sitar, synthesizer, violin, setar and drums (daf, dirbuka and tabla). Also the vocals play an important role. Third song "Shalom Aleichem" contains a spoken part in Persian and then it continues with traditional Hebrew words and music from Israel. The next song "Allah huma salle Allah Mohammad" has traditional Arabic words and music from Sufi tradition. The fifth and sixth song "Hinneih Matov" with traditional Hebrew words and music is divided into parts I and II part I being the longer one. Woschek has highlighted quite much Judaism in this album as also track number 7 "Nigun" is Israeli with Chassidim words and music. The last song is once again from Sufi tradition sung in Arabic and it's called "Bismillah allhamdulillah La Illaha Illalla".

My final grade: A deserved 10, because at least to my own ears he sounds perfect and smooth together with his collaborating artists. Also the most important reason to give him this grade is his remarkable creative control on his work.

The both albums I've heard from him that I now review are inspiring. But I have to say that as a Christian the musical image that he has created of Christ in this Gospodi - the light of Christ album wakes up more conversation with the inner me. That's because this album isn't traditional Christian music. The first song is called "Gospodi - I am in the light" and it has taken its influences from Russian Orthodox Christian music and Gregorian singing. The piece starts with calm, floating Indian singing and sarangi-playing, the so-called Alap of the Indian Raga. He also uses the choir in this song to create an atmosphere of a cathedral and then there is this mystical-monotonous sound of the Sufi drum. The song is a Russian prayer "Gospodi pomilui - Lord, have mercy". For the compositions of this cd he has chosen the central mantras of Christian liturgy; the focal prayer "Lord, have mercy upon me - Christ have mercy upon me" is also "Kyrie eleyson - Christe eleyson" in Greek and he has used it in the third and last track of the album. In "Kyrie" he has taken influences from Catholic Gregorian liturgy. The second track of this album is a Hebrew mantra "Hallelujah". BUT despite that also this song has Orthodox influences but also the lightness of flute and dulcimer brings in the joy of Celtic bards. He writes that the pieces are deliberately long in order to create the space of necessary for achieving depth through the repetition of the mantras and for building up the godly energy.
All in all the instruments he used in this album are vocals, flute, acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, tambura, sarangi, pacavaj - drum, hammer-dulcimer, soprano-saxophon and acoustic and electric bass. Once again all music is composed and arranged by Felix Maria Woschek himself.

My final grade: 10 -

Ofra Haza: Angel voice of Israel

Her biography


Famous for her beauty Ofra Haza is actually one of those few singers whose voice really deserve to be called as stunningly beautiful. Born on November 19 in 1957 and died on February 23 in 2000 for AIDS (in the age of 42) she was one of the most popular and appreciated Israeli female singers. Her voice has been described as mezzo-soprano, of near-flawless tonal quality, capable of lending itself to a variety of musical styles with apparent ease. Her genres are listed as World music, Pop, Ethnic electronica and Middle Eastern. The music fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat. She became famous also in Europe and USA, earning many platinum and gold discs during her career. Her music was inspired by her Jewish culture and it somehow managed to bridge the divide between Israel and the Arab countries. She sang mainly in Hebrew and English but as she made a voice role in a children's Bible movie The Prince Of Egypt (1998) as the mother of Moses, she practised singing in various languages so she could sing the role in all international versions of the movie - even in the Finnish one! She was a great pride of many Israelis and during her career she wrote some of her songs herself.



She was the youngest child in the family of nine children born in the poor Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Hatikvah in 39 Boaz Street. Her parents were Yemenite Jews and she told herself that her childhood was filled with music and singing and a passion for traditional Yemenite songs, picked from her mother. At the age of twelve and one-half years Ofra joined a local theatre troupe, and manager Bezalel Aloni spotted her exceptional singing talent. He staged many of his productions around her as the centrepiece and later on became her longtime manager and mentor. At the age of 19, she was Israel's first pop princess. By the time she had completed her military service in 1979, she had matured as a singer and was ready to launch a solo carrer. On 15 July 1997 she married a businessman Doron Ashkenazi and they never had children together though she was claimed to love children (in 1982 she even published a collection of children's songs L'Yeladim).

Career tops



1982, L'Yeladim album collection of children's songs



1983, Eurovision Song Contest with a song Chai (Alive) she reached enormous popularity in Israel. Her album named the same Chai that year became her biggest-selling album to date.



1984, Yemenite songs album also known as Fifty Gates of wisdom in the USA and it quickly became one of her platinum albums.



1986, Yamin Nishbarim album became her most interesting work as she wrote deep and personal lyrics at first herself and it had edgy rock sound. The album became one of her various gold discs.



1988, her greatest international recognition came with the single Im Nin'Alu, taken from the album Shaday published the same year. The album won the New Music Award for Best International Album of the Year.



1989, album Desert Wind



1992, a Grammy nominated album Kirya



1997, her English language album Ofra Haza



1998, her voice role in children's Bible movie Prince of Egypt as Yochabed, mother of Moses in the song Deliver Us recorded in 17 languages.



Album review: Yemenite songs

Now I started one of my "surprise series" to make my blog more interesting. I'm going to review music that is either Christian or might be of interest for Christian listeners. I'll give grades to albums I listen from 4 to 10, which means 4 is the worst and 10 is the best. I chose to begin with Ofra Haza as she was from Holy Land, very remarkable and popular and I find listening to some of her songs like "Gabriel" (which isn't from this album though) recommendable, because Jews and Christians have common spiritual heritage. So for me listening to some of Ofra Haza's songs is almost like listening to gospel, because in some of her songs there's inspiration from the Bible (like in "Gabriel" and in her duet "Forgiveness" with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). So before I'll move to actual Christian/gospel music, I'll present Ofra and one another Israeli artist...

Yemenite songs or Fifty Gates of Wisdom begins with her famous breakthrough song "Im Nin'Alu". When I heard two years ago only this song I found her music wonderful and brilliant. This album is sung in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic and the lyrics of the songs are as beautiful and ethereal as books of the Bible. The songs tell about God and love between man and woman. The songs are mainly created together with Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, but "Yachilvi Veyachali"
is a traditional song. Even handmark of Yemenite poet and singer Aharon Amram shows in some of the songs. Instruments used on this album are drums, congas, wooden and metal percussion, timbales, genuine Yemenite tin and tambala, double bass, strings, flute and piccolo, oboe and English horn, bassoon, clarinet and bass clarinet and French horn. This album has a strong, soft pop sound mixed together with ethnic sounds. I think the sound is very modern though mixed with traditions. Ofra's voice is beautiful and perfect. These songs are like stories... the composings wake up my imagination. The songs are joyful and uplifting. I highly recommend Ofra Haza for other believers as well, because she sings about the same God we believe in.

The final grade: 9 (because the album is otherwise great, but it has lack of artist's creative control)

OFRA HAZA's RECOMMENDABLE MUSIC VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE:

1. Im Nin'Alu Ofra Haza

2. Ofra Haza feat. Iggy Pop - Daw Da Hiya

3. Ofra Haza - Chai

4. Ofra Haza - The Prince of Egypt film clip - Deliver us

5. Ofra Haza - Forgiveness

6. Ofra Haza - Gabriel

7. Ofra Haza - Yad Anuga

8. Fighter - Ofra Haza