Stop ignoring urban gospel music - Sista Ginna

Ghanaian blogger and music publicist, Sista Ginna has commented on the growth of the Ghanaian gospel music industry and how important it is for people to support urban Christian gospel music.

It’s sad that “we” have stereotyped gospel music to mean just praise and worship but Gospel is not a genre.

"Let's look at it: Gospel is a message which is the good news. A message can be communicated through different music genres. You can have gospel afrobeat, gospel rap or hip-hop, gospel reggae or dancehall, gospel RnB, gospel pop, gospel rock, gospel country and so on. Therefore gospel is not a genre of music. It's a message that should be communicated through different music genres. Christian music is supposed to be the category.

"There are a lot of urban gospel songs that can match the popular secular songs we play and listen to, but even within the Christian community Urban Gospel Music is not supported or highlighted as a legit gospel music Ministry by a lot of churches.

"Gospel artistes will make Godly music in several genres, from rap to Afrobeats to R&B but you won't stream or hype it up. The moment a secular artist adds a God-tag to a song, you don’t mind playing it repeatedly.

"The industry is tough but thank God for the urban artists like Kobby Salm, Kingzkid, Neqta, Belac, Po Godson Rje and few of the urban guys who haven’t given up.

"MOG Music is one of the few Gospel artists I have seen supporting most of these urban gospel artists, from collaborations/features and also putting them on his events. Not forgetting Ghanaian gospel artiste Empress Gifty and her support for Scott Evans.

"Urban gospel didn't come to replace our indigenous gospel praise & worship, rather it came to support it. Please let's stop judging and start appreciating and supporting these sounds. I will plead with most of our mainstream: popular gospel musicians and event organizers to bill most of these urban artists to perform at their events. This is what the urban scene needs more!"