Their message is spiritual but don't you dare label their brand of music as gospel. Instead artists featured on a new compilation CD say they are "musicians who perform music." The CD is called "Dancehall Outta Belize," and on the fifteen tracks, the artists fuse positive messages with popular beats. Executive producer Michael Evans told us why this CD defines spirituality but defies the gospel label.
Michael Evans, New Beginnings Productions
"Music is music and its artistic in nature and what we do is as intense as anyone else and while we definitely want people to be receiving a positive message, we don't want people to categorize the music as such because a lot of people say oh its gospel and then it is automatically thrown out because it is the gospel. We don't want people to just reject it, for say, because its classified as gospel. The rhythms are dancehall, we have one reggae song, we have some crossover with hip-hop rhythms and we have female and male vocalists on the album.
People want a positive message. What you will find right now is that I've been listening to all the different artists and a lot of them are making a major transition in the themes of their songs. Maybe two years ago everything about promiscuity, about violence, about vulgarity and a lot of the artists are slowing making a transition towards a positive message."
The CD is now in record stores. The entire album was recorded at "The Quiet Room" in Dangriga.
