Atheist Douches Object to Gospel Music at MLK Celebration

[Rev. Rye]

That's the funny thing about gospel music: it comes in a large variety of forms. The hymns traditionally sung in churches are soporific, the contemporary Christian music is usually a bland imitation of the secular music world. Meanwhile, there's a bunch of other forms, including the heavily blues-based forms I posted earlier, and their descendants/cousins in the gospel scene. And here's another form, even more unusual: Sacred Harp music. 





The first time I heard it was on the Harry Smith Anthology, with two tracks from an 1928 version of the Alabama Sacred Harp Singers.  The first time I heard the tracks, I assumed it must be the token contribution of the American Indian to this six-LP boxed set chronicling America's folk music. Indecipherable choirs singing in what appeared to be a pentatonic scale, but it turns out it's actually an old English tradition that ended up flourishing in the South. It's a bit Bach-like, if only for the fugues ubiquitous in the hymnal it was named after, but easily accessible to the common man (well, at least more easily accessible than Art of the Fugue was, anyway.)

Then again, this may be even less accessible to others than most of the other forms.