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JAM | Feb 1, 2023

Churches called out to help expand Reggae music

/ Our Today

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Culture Minister urges churches to focus on unearthing and developing gospel bands

Olivia Grange, minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sports, with The Reverend Al Miller during the 2023 Reggae Month Church Service at Fellowship Tabernacle in St Andrew.

The churches in Jamaica are being encouraged to assist in expanding the island’s Reggae gospel industry.

Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Minister Olivia Grange, who made the call, invited churches to, “focus on unearthing and developing gospel bands and vocal talents across the country, and unleashing them on the world in reverence and praise”.

Speaking at the 2023 Reggae Month Church Service, held at Fellowship Tabernacle at 2 Fairfield Avenue, Kingston 20 last Sunday, the minister acknowledged that there is a large contingent of local Christian artistes involved in Reggae gospel.

CHURCH POSITION ON REGGAE CHANGING

Against this background, Grange declared that “our churches need to join us, in a more fulsome way, in creating an even larger Reggae gospel industry”.

She recounted that there was a period when the “guardians” of religion felt that Reggae music should not be heard in the church. She maintained, however, that this position was changing.

Head of Fellowship Tabernacle, The Reverend Al Miller, who delivered the sermon, confessed that there was a time for the Church that reggae couldn’t encapsulate the world of God. However, he made the point that this is changing now.

Olivia Grange, minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sports.

The service was held under the theme ‘We Come to Ketch the Rhythm in Reverence and Praise’.

Grange pointed out that reggae music underscores the very concept of reverence and praise, as exemplified in Redemption Song, composed by Jamaica’s reggae icon, the late Robert Nesta Marley, citing the verse which states –‘Our hands were made strong by the hand of the Almighty, and we forward in this generation, triumphantly’.

Additionally, Grange said Reggae, one of the country’s indigenous music genres, has brought wealth and purpose to the lives of vulnerable Jamaicans noting that through the music form, Jamaicans have been able to create livelihoods of substance for their families and communities.

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