Category: Misc.

Exactly what it says: miscellaneous stuff.

From Jendella's Head, Misc., Music Industry, UKGospel Team

When “Christian Artist” Doesn’t Mean “Gospel”

If there is any part of the Christian life that is a dense grey area of debate and contention, it is how Christian artists should respond to the fact that they are Christian and creative. When it comes to the realm of “the gospel” and “music” and “gospel music” in particular, a lot of people have a lot to say about it and I know many young Christian creatives who have been burdened by this expectation. Continue reading When “Christian Artist” Doesn’t Mean “Gospel”

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From Yinka's head..., Misc., Technology

Top Apps to Keep You Creative on the Move (Part 1)

Spinning Plates

Like most people, I have to keep lots of plates spinning in the air at any given time.

Keeping track of – and managing – important tasks can be a major challenge.

By way of illustration: on weekday mornings I present a breakfast radio show between 7 and 9 am, and straight afterwards head off to the day job in a completely different organisation.

Demands

Aside from that are the demands of what I consider to be one my primary passions in life: writing, editing and publishing articles (as well as recording and mixing audio) for UKGospel.com, working (primarily virtually) with a bunch of great creatives.

Then – as if that wasn’t enough – there are the infrequent, though no less demanding requirements of some of the other UKGospel.com platforms: updating Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, running UKGShop.com, and blogging (how would you be reading this otherwise?) 🙂

Continue reading “Top Apps to Keep You Creative on the Move (Part 1)”

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From Yinka's head..., Misc., Radio, UKGSpin

Karl Nova announces ‘More Than Just Music’

Let’s get the most obvious bits out of the way: there’s no hiding the fact that ‘more than music’ is one of those phrases that’s so overused it’s well beyond being a grey old cliché… Having said that, I feel Karl Nova is probably one of the few people who actually takes the phrase seriously enough to have it fully drive his entire raison d’être … Continue reading Karl Nova announces ‘More Than Just Music’

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From Yinka's head..., Misc., Music, Music Industry, News, UK Gospel Music Industry

If you’re going to cover a song, *this* is the way to do it….

So, anyone who knows anything about the UK scene knows Labrinth is a genius. ‘Let The Sun Shine‘ is a fantastic song. However, take a leaf out of the ACM Gospel Choir‘s book.  If you’re going to cover such a strong song, you have to enhance it. Choir master Mark De-Lisser‘s vocal arrangement, layering and harmonic instincts are amazing: Simples Continue reading If you’re going to cover a song, *this* is the way to do it….

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From Yinka's head..., Misc., News, Radio, UK Gospel Music Industry, UKGospel.com, Yinka on Radio

So, my BIG ANNOUNCEMENT is…

Thanks to Dayo from Quadosh for the GREAT picture.

If you’re my friend on Facebook or following me on Twitter, then you know I’ve been dropping these rather unsubtle hints about my BIG Announcement for the past few weeks.

Well, here it is:

Starting tomorrow, 1st February 2010, I’ll be co- presenting a new radio show on a new radio station in London!

All those cryptic messages about ‘going off to training’, ‘waking up early’ and ‘being extremely nervous’ all boil down to this: Continue reading “So, my BIG ANNOUNCEMENT is…”

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Misc., Music, News, UK Gospel Music Industry

News: Ryan Carty on GospelFlava.com

Ryan Carty‘s excellent debut album ‘Journey to Purpose‘ has impressed the influential US GospelFlava.com website. Reviewer Donna Marshall was not only impressed with lead track ‘Gratitude‘ but also singled out ‘Words Cannot Explain‘, ‘Won’t Quit‘ and ‘Lord Revive me‘ The album still remains one of the strongest releases to come out of the UK gospel Soul/RnB scene in recent years. Follow the links Read the … Continue reading News: Ryan Carty on GospelFlava.com

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From Yinka's head..., Misc., News, UK Gospel Music Industry, UKGospel.com, UKGShop.com, Videos

News: Fantastic News Update – 7 September 2009!

UKG logo

OK, I’ve spent most of last week devoting a lot of time to making sure I pushed my Uncle Simply Andy‘s event The Adventures of Simply Andy (which – seeing as you ask – was amazing)!!

But that means that I now have a lot of news that I have to catch up on.

So this week, stand by for loads of updates coming through UKGospel.com, the UKGospel Blog and UKGShop.com: Continue reading “News: Fantastic News Update – 7 September 2009!”

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Events, From Yinka's head..., Misc., News, UKGospel.com

News: Remember, remember: Simply Andy on 5th September

Following on from Michaela‘s excellent launch (I’m sooo gutted I couldn’t attend.  Apparently it was fantastic)

Adventures of Simply Andy flyerSimply Andy’s one man show, The Adventures of Simply Andy takes place this weekend (5th September).

Andy is another one of our very best: producer, arranger, presenter, songwriter, vocalist and a very funny stand-up comedian.

He’s always in demand, and if you’ve ever tried to get a hold of him in a hurry, you’ll know how busy he is.  He won’t thank me for saying that, but it’s true.

Anyway I think the guy is an amazing talent, and I’m devoting this week to making sure as many people as possible know about this event.

So first off here are some videos for you to see promoting his gig.

Once you see the effort and thought that’s gone into making them, you’ll realise how good Saturday is going to be.  Besides, there’s Four Kornerz (absolutely brilliant live) and Rachel Kerr (amaaaaazing vocalist)

If you still need convincing (I feel sorry for you if you do):  Watch the videos below: Continue reading “News: Remember, remember: Simply Andy on 5th September”

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From Yinka's head..., Misc., News, UK Gospel Music Industry

News: Book on British Black Gospel: crash and burn – or eagles’ wings…?

British Black Gospel Cover Just took delivery of this book ‘British Black Gospel‘ a few of days ago.

It’s written by Steve Alexander Smith, a guy I know is majorly into his UK gospel history with a passion – and then some.

At first glance (I haven’t read all the way through it yet) the book traces the history of British gospel music and its impact on social, demographic and even parts of popular UK culture, taking in the history from the late 1800s to contemporary times.

It’s subtitled ‘The foundations of this vibrant UK sound’, so – quite naturally – it focuses more on events of the past in the runup to our contemporary times, with extensively researched and presented information, anecdotes and images.

This is history that is significant and hugely wide-ranging, taking in elements of American Historical events, slavery, the Caribbean Windrush generation and the emergence of the African influence.

It’s really good to see someone try to put those potentially disparate strands together in one volume.  I don’t feel sufficiently qualified to comment on how well Steve achieved that, but I find it a hugely welcome addition to charting the history of the UK gospel scene.

Crash and Burn

As you’ll no doubt have noticed by now I feel this book deserves more than my usual brief news blog entry.

I desperately hope it gets the attention and support it deserves from the demographic that inspired it, in addition to it becoming a useful guide for anyone else interested in the scene and its rich history…

But I fear it might crash and burn within the Black Christian community.

Let me explain. Continue reading “News: Book on British Black Gospel: crash and burn – or eagles’ wings…?”

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