ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701280106
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
SOURCE: STEPHANIE GRIFFITH ASSOCIATED PRESS
Judging from the stony faces at the Saint Michel Church one recent Sunday night, only a miracle would put these Belgians in the gospel spirit.
But just before intermission in the two-hour concert, the crowd caught fire.
By the end, grandmothers were rocking in the aisles. And teen-agers stood in their seats for a better look at The Golden Gospel Singers performing one encore after another.
It's like that in packed theaters, community centers and concert halls across Europe these days. Europeans are falling in love with the raw energy and vocal interplay that distinguishes gospel singing from jazz and blues - black American music forms that have a longer tradition on this continent.
To Bob Singleton, founder of The Golden Gospel Singers, the appeal of gospel singing in Europe seems universal.
``I look out into our audience and see three generations: the yuppie mom and dad, the grandparents and the kids,'' he said.
Gospel's ability to whip an uptight crowd into a thigh-slapping, foot-tapping frenzy is a big factor in its growing popularity in Europe.
And it's not just at concerts. Gospel groups are being hired to perform at weddings, birthday parties, radio programs, workshops and festivals. A Paris restaurant, Chesterfield's, offers a Sunday gospel brunch.
Demand is so high that Singleton has three Golden Gospel groups performing simultaneously across Europe.
Mandy Gaines, a Cincinnati jazz singer who annually tours Europe, says gospel's success here led her to incorporate a few numbers in her repertoire.
``I've seen the posters'' advertising gospel singing across Europe, Gaines said. ``I've seen the signs, even in little, bitty villages in the south of France. I see it's starting to get pretty big. I want to get in on that, too.''
Narcisse d'Almeida, organizer of an annual gospel and spiritual festival in Paris, believes ``people nowadays are seeking a kind of purity in their music. People are confronted daily with news of wars, racism, suffering - things they have a hard time dealing with.''
Gospel singing's appeal is not limited to Europeans in Europe.
Every Sunday, bus loads of European tourists are taken to churches across Harlem in New York City to watch services more boisterous than any white church can muster.
The weekly tours have been around for years. But lately they have swelled to hundreds of visitors, leading some blacks to charge that the visits are racial voyeurism - white Europeans who come to gawk at a ``black curiosity'' and ignore the religious service itself.
Most members of Singleton's singing group are devout Christians. He said that while Europeans tend to experience gospel singing primarily as a musical event, he believes some of its religious meaning trickles through.
``The message is always the same, no matter where we are. It's always about the good news,'' he said, referring to the Gospel of the New Testament. ``The words are always the same and the reaction of the people is always the same.''
Still, even when gospel concerts in Europe are staged in churches, it is likely without the religious context of American church-going. More often than not, the music is performed in concert halls or open air band shells where Jesus is rarely invoked, except in song.
The Golden Gospel Singers perform well-known songs that Europeans are likely to sing along with, such as ``Amazing Grace'' and ``Oh, Happy Day.''
Singleton also writes songs himself and tries to ``come up with lyrics that are simple, straightforward. That way, Europeans will get a taste of what contemporary black gospel is like.''
That's not to say they grasp its history or meaning.
Attending their third Brussels concert recently, Jean Habay and his wife, Monique, were surprised to learn that in America, gospel singing is most often performed in churches and is part of a religious event.
To the Habays, the venue was unimportant.
``The type of song and the extraordinary voices - that's what I really enjoy,'' Habay said.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 linesby CNB