Rethinking Spiritual/Cultural Appropriation in Christian Music Making and Consumption: A Study of Nigerian Gospel Music

There have been multiple revolutions in the contemporary Christian music and from observable trends, more paradigm shifts are predictable in this music industry. Some of these revolutions and paradigm shifts, notably cultural/spiritual appropriation, have been controversial, somehow driven by human reasoning, and aesthetical moves to copy the world. This discourse argues that genuine gospel music making and, consumption are Holy Spirit assisted or Spirit-led. As spiritual acts, they are spiritually discerned, exclusively by observers “possessed” by the True Holy Spirit. This is in line with the biblical illumination, that spirituality is spiritually discerned by spiritual people, 2 Corinthians 1:12, . Based on this premise, the, article castigates the cultural appropriation paradigm in gospel music industry, equating it to the product of, human philosophy. Though culturally sensitive, the appropriation tradition tends to offer religion and, religious art in a secular mode with the risk of causing gospel artists to adapt to purely secular standards.,

Keywords: Appropriation Paradigm, Christian Alternative Music, Nigerian Gospel Music, Secularism, Music of the Devil.