Gospel music has transformed from an expression of mostly oppressed peoples in Southern Africa to the largest music genre produced and consumed across the region. Its long-time legacy, mostly in the township, where the music was enjoyed for its few hours of transporting performers and audiences to another realm where freedom from oppression could be imagined, has now been transformed to serve both the community and the music industry, which, for most of its history, has been associated with exploiting the musical expressions of Black people.

The question is, how does the development of the contemporary gospel music scene speak to changing values in South African society at large, and why does gospel music continue to hold such a dramatic presence in the everyday lives of gospel music performers and their audiences? What comes first, the music, the message, or the money?

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