Gospel 1/2

In the playlist below you will find music tracks from our music catalogue for royalty-free Production Music or Stock Music with the keyword "gospel", which can be licensed directly online via the Proud Music Library as background music for commercials, ads on TV, In-Stream-ads or movie and radio spots. It is also possible to download mp3 files in reduced quality for free to present them internally. Use is only permitted after the purchase of a license. If you have any questions regarding licensing, please contact us by phone at ++49 (0)6132 43 088 30 or by email at [email protected].



The songs on this page may NOT be used without a license. Please purchase a license according to the intended use!

Although this definition in the narrower sense also applies to the English language, the term is also used here in a broader sense and encompasses the entire development of Christian music in North America since the Baptist and Methodist revival movement in the 19th century. The term "gospel song" appears here in printed form probably first used in 1874 by Philip P. Bliss and originally had an evangelistic and missionary character according to the English word "gospel" for "gospel". In German, at that time still largely free of Anglicisms, the term "gospel song" in this understanding became the gospel song.

The term gospel can refer to two seemingly similar musical styles: one that is closely related to religious music, very similar to the spiritual choral singing that originated in Afro-American Christian Methodist churches in the 1930s; the other, religious music that was later composed and played by artists of all faiths and ethnicities, especially from the south of the United States of America, and then spread throughout the rest of the world. The separation between Black America and White America and thus between Black Church and White Church and also between Black Music and White Music kept these styles separate, but never quite. Both styles are derived from Christian Methodist chanting by African Americans, which in turn is derived from the old spontaneous chants during the days of slave labor in the United States of America, often in the agricultural cotton fields.

This style of music was (and still is) often played in a single vs. choir mode, i.e. with a short vocal movement performed by a single singer (in the slave camps it was sung by a single slave), alternating with the reaction of the entire choir (then actually the rest of the slaves working). While the spiritual remained simpler on the musical level, the gospel was refined and enriched over time, with the addition of rhythmic basics of blues and rhythm and blues, and spread significantly in the western world. In the Gospel, some artists (e.g. Mahalia Jackson) simply appear and remain in purely religious contexts with spiritual inspiration and Christian themes.

The term Gospel means good news, "Word of God": The texts are indeed inspired by the Bible (especially the Book of Psalms). Other gospel currents, on the other hand, appear in more secular contexts, such as the Golden Gate Quartet or Clara Ward, who also sing in nightclubs. Most artists, such as Jordanaires, Al Green and Solomon Burke, tend to play in both contexts, where they often include a religious piece in a secular performance, although the opposite almost never happens.