“Then Sings My Soul”: Gospel Music as Popular Culture in the Spiritual lives of Kenyan Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians

Abstract

The paper examines and analyses the significance of gospel music as popular culture in the spiritual lives of Kenyan Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians. It argues that the phenomenal rise of gospel in Kenya was at its climax in the 1990s, a period that also coincidentally took place with the liberalization of airwaves and the immense growth of these churches. The nineties were also a period of difficult social, political and economic hardships in Kenya and the rise of gospel music is related to these happenings. Gospel music as popular culture has become an important segment of youth culture in Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches in urban areas and is also a significant expression of youth identity in twenty-first century Kenya. The paper points out that these churches are the main locus of gospel music and have facilitated the successful emergence of social groups such as women, youth and children into public space as cultural workers who had otherwise been rendered invisible. It maintains that Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity has become a place where such social groups are contesting religious and creative space in Kenya’s public culture. The paper further argues that although there are many attractions to this form of African Christianity, its main attraction is cultural. This cultural appeal of Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity is found in the appropriation of popular culture, which is expressed in music, dance, films, dress code and language. The paper therefore seeks to understand and link religion with popular culture and examines how new religious movements fit into the context of popular culture in Kenya. It maintains that gospel music in Kenya is a blend of local music with influences from many countries and musical styles from other parts of the world. The paper also observes that gospel music represents a valuable entry point into discourses of contemporary African cultural productions (Chitando 2002). The study hopes to contribute to the discourses on religion and public space and religious constructed identities. It argues that the media has ushered in gospel music and these churches into public space and has led to a kind of Pentecostalite culture that has pervaded public culture in Kenya