Vom «Tanz der Christen» zum Gospel Boom : Christentum und populäre Musik in Ghana im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert

Gospel music today dominates the music industry of Ghana. Drumming and dancing are important elements of worship in virtually all Ghanaian churches despite the fact that in former times mission churches banned these activities as unchristian. This article explores the intimate connections between Christianity and popular music in Ghana and how Africans appropriated European forms of music in syncretic ways. These then allowed styles, instruments and movements that were formerly seen as indecent and incompatible with a Christian life style to enter the churches, especially the African independent churches. When military rule and economic depression in the 1970s and 1980s virtually destroyed Ghana's entertainment industry the churches offered a space for secular musicians to survive and perform. At about the same time the charismatic-pentecostal wave created further avenues for music performance within the churches and helped to change the strict attitudes of the former mission churches.