It's official: this September will be recognized as Gospel Music Heritage Month.
The Gospel Music Channel television network has joined forces with Senator Blanche L. Lincoln (D-Ark.), Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), and The Recording Academy to launch the "Gospel Music Heritage Month" initiative.
The legislation in the House of Representatives (H. Con. Res. 370) and the Senate (S. Res. 595) designates September 2008 as "Gospel Music Heritage Month," honoring Gospel music for its valuable long-standing contributions to American culture. The initiative was publicly unveiled at The Recording Academy's Grammys on the Hill event at the U.S. Capitol on June 18.
(We need government legislation to celebrate Gospel music? There's your tax dollars at work, people. No wonder our representatives never get anything done if they're spending time on photo opps like this. But I digress ...)
"Gospel Music is a cornerstone of the American musical tradition and has grown beyond its established audience to achieve pop-culture and historical relevance across the globe," said Senator Lincoln.
The term "Gospel" used to refer to traditional hymns or Southern Gospel, but over the years has become synonymous with any form of Christian music. In fact, I was at a writing conference a few months ago and had a precious few minutes to chat with keynote speaker Garrison Keillor, author and host of the famous "Prairie Home Companion." If anyone knows Gospel music, it's Keillor. How we got talking about Christian music, I'll never know, but when I mentioned the name of this blog - Gospel SoundCheck - he immediately mused about how the word "Gospel" didn't just mean traditional Gospel (and he reeled off some names) but hip hop and rock, too. Who knew he was so up on Christian music?
The initiative was created by the Gospel Music Channel, the country's first and only 24/7 television network devoted to all forms of Gospel/Christian music.
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