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By Dave Walker

Check out “Sunday Best,” BET’s gospel version of Fox’s sing-off show, and be revived.   Hosted by contemporary gospel superstar Kirk Franklin – who closes the Congo Square “My Louisiana” Stage at Jazz Fest at 5:45 p.m. on April 30 – “Sunday Best” features contestants with show-stopping pipes and poise to burn.

The series’ New Orleans auditions episode airs this Sunday (April 25) night at 7.   On May 2, “Sunday Best” will return to New Orleans for its finalist rounds, which were taped in early April at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.  During a production break between an empty-auditorium rehearsal and a packed-house performance taping, I asked Franklin about the “Sunday Best” difference.   He said it’s all about venue. “Sunday Best” singers have come up in a tradition that challenges them to excel from childhood forward.

“There’s no other genre that creates a level of professionalism, that connection with the audience, like the black church,” he said. “That’s why you had Elvis sneaking in one. That’s why you had the Rolling Stones sneaking into the back of a black church. Jerry Lee Lewis. Some of the greatest icons of popular music.

“If you wanted to learn how to do it without the pyrotechnics and the elaborate sound system, you had to go to that black church. To see how someone could kill a house with a piano that was out of tune, or with a microphone that would fee back or wouldn’t work some time.

“When you learn that genius, you can stand on any stage. Some of the other shows that have singing in them, you notice right now the musical abilities are beginning to wander off, because these kids have not had that wood-shedding experience.

“All these people on this stage have had that – since they were young-uns. This is a hard audience. This black church audience will not let you get by if you’ve got a bad day.  Can’t fake it. If you’ve got a bad day and you aren’t living right and you’ve done some dirt or if your voice is a little shallow or a little dry that day, you can’t just get by.”

Franklin pantomimed an unimpressed church lady.

“Sitting there with her arms folded,” he said. “That vigorous playing field has created a stronger performance.”

Also factors in the stellar performances, Franklin said, are the message in the music and the spirit in the music-makers.   Instead of airless-pop banalities, the subject matter of “Sunday Best” songs tend to trade in eternal verities.   And the singers aren’t just aiming for pop-stardom spoils, but higher ground altogether.   “What separates this genre of music from any other is that it must come from a place of honesty, and it must come from a place of testimony, and it must come from a place of personal spiritual transformation, or the pursuit of that, or the journey of that, or the transforming power of that,” Franklin said. “That’s what isolates it from all other music.

“At its core, it is about a musical expression of an inward change.

“The power of Gospel music comes from that testimony place.”

Franklin, who will return to New Orleans after Jazz Fest to perform at July’s Essence Music Festival, is co-executive producer of “Sunday Best,” and accordingly more invested in the show’s success than a hired-gun host.

Before the singing commenced at the early April tapings, Franklin gathered the contestants for a backstage briefing/pep talk.   He counseled the singers about a simple presentation issue – in rehearsal, he’d noticed that some of the contestants were singing with their eyes closed.  “You have to give me something,” he said. “What you give still has to be authentically you.  When that camera’s on, you have to be on.”   Then he cut them loose.

“This is gospel music,” he said. “It’s the most honest music on the planet. It’s the most pure music. It’s the most transparent music, because it’s music we sing because we’re desperate.   “You all could be doing pop and hip-hop. You all chose this world because something about it became very contagious for you.

“Something about the words. Something about the singing. Something about the testimony experience, something about the pain and passion.”  

 The audience, he continued, doesn’t know that.   “They don’t know our story,” he said. “‘Man, she could be making millions of dollars doing something else.’ They don’t know why you do this. I know. You’ve got to let them know.

“The other show (“Idol”) is bigger. The other show has more viewers. But the other show, no disrespect, can’t touch your talent. It’s more than talent. It’s about the best communicator.”

Franklin concluded, and one of the finalists asked him to pray with the group.

The group joined hands and Franklin joined the circle.  He talked about gifts and talents and how they’re all secondary.

Everybody said “Amen,” and Franklin turned to me.

“That’s what makes it different,” he said. “I don’t think too many other shows are holding hands.”

 -THE BELLE REPORT

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