ABSTRACT
Music always has been central to the project of freedom in the black Christian experience. From encoded material in the slave songs, to the phenomenon fundraising success of the Fisk Jubilee Singers on their 19th-century international tours performing to royalty, to the celebrity status of R&B luminaires nurtured within the confines of the black church, engagement in musical activity has provided a means of encoding, articulating and celebrating African American religious, artistic, social and cultural life.
While much has been documented about this music tradition, to date, there is little that tracks the histories and developments of music within BMCs (Black Majority Churches) in the United Kingdom. BMCs in the UK are diverse in orientation and theological emphasis; nonetheless, most have appropriated a historical diasporic model of ecstatic engagement with lively music as central to their worship practice. Significant time and expenditure are allocated to the nurturing of worship ministries in most BMCs, and music plays a critical role as a signifier. However, to what extent do the songs that are sung maintain and sustain a contribution to this project of freedom? The selection, presentation and maintenance of a particular type of ‘sonic discourse’ reveal a quagmire of assumptions, omissions and disputes both internal and external to the church.
Using ethnographic research drawn from a South London African-led BMC, this paper will analyze the musical repertoire of the church and evaluate the politics of congregation singing in relation to contemporary Christian music interrogating its continuity and relevance with old and new diaspora struggles.
