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comment by bhrgunatha
bhrgunatha  ·  2993 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What makes an atheist love religious music?

One of the most memorable gigs I ever went to was The Inspirational Choir (‎of The Pentecostal First Born Church of the Living God) - the university I went to put them on. I was part of the entertainments committee that organised the gig, but I still don't quite know how we came to organise that one. I think it started as a sort of joke - the committee manager was contacted by their agent and we sort of went along with the joke and then one thing led to another and it eventually happened.

Absolutely mind-blowing energy from the performers - despite low attendance in a completely inadequate venue. They absolutely blew the roof off.

I've always had strong, but really quite eclectic musical tastes and lyrics have never really had a powerful effect when I listen to music. Sometimes I think they really get in the way or they can be too rigid in telling you what message you're supposed to be receiving. Of course the best lyricists are truly poetic and can leave the meaning up to you to interpret, but the point is I think I've never been too swung by the words, more focussed on the music.

I remember posting For Every Mountain by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir once and getting lambasted for the overtly religious nature of the song. Sorry but that performance makes my hair stand on end. You can see the ecstasy on the faces of some of the performers too. If you're too narrow minded or too inflexible to take a step back and just absorb and enjoy the experience, then that's a shame. I won't let that stop me though. Life's too short to let others sway you from what you enjoy.

I've been searching for many years for recording by the Inspirational Choir with no luck :(