Gospel conquers Kenyan music

Gospel has clearly gained mainstream acceptance.

 Think not? Well even gospel was represented at the SAWA SAWA FEST this year with Juliani doing it big for gospel fraternity.

What was shocking wasn’t the fact that he is a good performer but rather the reception he recieved. His set was slotted after Yunasi; an unenviable slot given how energetic they are and how popular they still are. When he was announced as the next act, i remember wondering whether he’ll pick up from where Yunasi left off and get the crowd even more frenzied. He did.
And the crowd kept singing along, word for word. All this had me wondering what it was about gospel that had changed over the years enough for it to be accepted by the Kenyan mainstream. First generation gospel was Joy Bringers.  Then Five Alive did their thing and got the urban youth interested in doing gospel in a funky way but they weren’t well recieved by the mainstream.

Now we have Daddy Owen, Jimmy Gait, Holy Dave and Juliani doing their thing and spreading that Holy funk to spots and venues outside the church and they are ripping it up. The recent unprecedented success of gospel has me wondering what they secret is. What are they doing that secular artists aren’t? How come the music they are producing is much better recieved than that done by their secular counterparts?

Whatever the secret, gospel acts are currently miles ahead of the rest of the industry. And they don’t seem to be slowing down for anyone. Not for nay sayers and certainly not for their secular counterparts.