The Sunday News
AT times the statements of most of our readers or commentators are very revealing and inspire or push us to make deeper thought in to the reasons we do certain things. Such was the issue that happened to me when I read the obituary of the late blues legend BB King. He made a statement that shook me and made me pen this column today. Explaining what made him stick to Blues and not gospel music, “I’d take my guitar and play on the streets. A gospel song would get me a pat on the head. But a Blues would get me a dime. So you see why I stuck to Blues.” So he stuck to Blues not because of anything else but the fact that there was money there and not in gospel music. It sounds so familiar. Just like the common statement from the accomplished secular musicians who will tell you that they were discovered by the choir master in church and Sunday School but they are now playing or singing rock or R and B! So the question is why people are hesitant to pay for gospel music or should they really pay?
The City of Bulawayo is teeming with talent and outstanding talent in the gospel music arena. Just earlier this past week we saw the combination of Eric Moyo and Mkhululi Bhebhe of Joyous Celebration as they gave us a good afternoon of music with Vocal Ex. The question is should we pay or rather why should we not pay well for these shows. There is the feeling among many that when it comes to gospel one should rather not charge. It is a ministry. It is a service of spreading the good news. If we are to pay it should just be a donation. Yet the same people will pay without blinking for a Jah Prayzah, Chimbetu or Soul Jah Love show. gospel musicians have always taken themselves to be ministers or simply stated, as church musicians. They at times are caught in a straight between two, where they cannot clarify who they really are — professionals or mere ministers of the Word in song.
It would be important to take some time now to clarify what one can call the church musician. It is my guarded view that a church musician is a person who sustains the church by providing musical services, especially as a performer of music who plays an instrument. Also a musician (or instrumentalist) is a person who is talented in making music or performing music creatively, or one who composes, conducts, or performs music in a church.
It is true also that a musician can specialise in any musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles. Examples of a musician’s possible skills include performing, conducting, singing, composing, arranging and the orchestration of music. Specifically too, musicians act as carriers for a particular message or suggestion which is why they are then easily referred to as ministers.
As I meet and talk with church musicians from all backgrounds, our conversations inevitably turn to some of the difficulties of working in the church. We usually agree that the root of those problems is less of a musical one than one that is spiritual. I have tried to zero in on what the spiritual difficulties and challenges are for musicians who work in the church. The general view is that it is seen as incumbent that the church musician must first understand that our work is also a form of worship.
Further, we should develop the mental discipline to concentrate on our job per time, and listen to the sermon during service. Our major role is to set the tone for an atmosphere of Praise and Worship in God’s presence each time which is probably one of the most spiritually challenging jobs anyone can have.
Church musicians should be appreciated or encouraged which boils down to being paid or not. However, they should not be dependent on the church for survival. They should be creative, versatile and diverse in many ways that money can flow to them. In other words the artiste in church should be strategically creative. Depending on the charitability of the church will create a bitter and boring musician. Whilst on the other hand being over-ambitious when you feel you can attain a height without passing through normal procedures can brew up rebellion.
I think that when there is a mutual agreement and balance between the church musicians and the church itself regarding the values and their views being respected in contributing to the value of the church progress there will not be any cause for rebellion. Being paid is relative and should be an individual’s decision, if your spiritual life is strong and your faith in God is such that you absolutely depend on His sustenance then being paid in a church should be a personal decision. Your creativity should take you beyond the church coffers for your sustenance without taking you out of the presence of God.
The place of the musician in the church in my view is vital and needs no ‘‘wracking’’ of the head over as worship is to-a-large-extent music driven. Good music is directly proportional to a good congregational worship experience. Music is the musician’s trade; he/she definitely should be paid when he/she renders his/her service except in the event that he/she chooses to render those services for free. Whether the musician should be paid is not something to think about, why would anyone not pay for service rendered? Free service is the choice of the labourer, anyone who is forced to render free service is under slavery. There is therefore no reason for even the Bible does say that one should not muzzle the ox that treads the corn.
The church musician is merely gifted in the art and needs to be accorded the respect for the skill that he contributes to the house. These are the experts who in King Solomon’s time were paid in kind for services rendered. The bottom line is they were paid. So they did not just play and minister in the house of the Lord without any remuneration. They were rewarded for their contribution.
When people listen to gospel music the feeling is that it should be by grace and free as salvation but one has to realise that this has come not by grace but by hard work. When hard work is rewarded there is a chance to even make it bigger and better.
May I conclude by saying there is need that we the consumers of gospel music should not be naive and think that it is a cheap and menial product which we should not pay a prime price for. Let us pay for it. If you know that theft is a sin as much as adultery and murder then unlawful dubbing and duplication of gospel music is theft and as much a sin as idolatry. Let us be the first to stop it. A well-oiled and well paid Christian musician will cause even better sustainability for the church. We therefore should pay well for gospel music! Till next week, Shalom!
