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…?”