{"id":9512,"date":"2014-09-17T06:37:55","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T13:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=9512"},"modified":"2014-09-15T13:40:03","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T20:40:03","slug":"gospel-singer-marvin-matthews-finds-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2014\/09\/17\/gospel-singer-marvin-matthews-finds-the-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Gospel singer Marvin Matthews finds the light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gospel singer Marvin Matthews almost pursued a career in opera singing, but because he had difficulty with opera\u2019s darker subject matter he found the light and focused his efforts on gospel music. It\u2019s a genre that allows him to share a message with the audience that is meaningful to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started singing in church when I was about eight years old,\u201d says Matthews. \u201cI think what attracted me to gospel music, or to Christian music in particular, is that there is a sense of singing something that is true, something that is relevant, and something that is life-giving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Marvin Matthews says gospel music is very personal and very exciting (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a powerful voice and stage presence that communicates a genuine joy for life, the Los Angeles-based Matthews has become a world-renowned performer, including performances at three Olympic Games. His opera-trained voice produces deeply soulful sounds and his lyrics address themes of love, the past, and hope for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is hope for wherever you are in your journey,\u201d he says. \u201cGospel music is a type of music that brings hope, that brings vibrancy. It\u2019s not music that\u2019s boring or impersonal. It\u2019s very personal and it\u2019s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews, who is appearing at Victoria\u2019s first annual Gospel Music Festival at the Alix Goolden Hall on September 20 alongside his Marvin Matthews Band, was first introduced to gospel in his hometown of Washington, DC. He says there\u2019s a timeless truth to gospel music that people of different cultures and faiths can identify with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what makes it gospel music to me, because there are people there who are of different faiths and yet they love the music,\u201d he says. \u201cI think it\u2019s because the music resonates with something that is true, and that is relevant to human life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on his love for sharing gospel music, it\u2019s not surprising that Matthews refers to his career as a \u201cbusiness of communication.\u201d He says there\u2019s nothing that communicates better than music when he is performing in countries around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that is exciting to me in performing around the world is that the language barrier that exists in our speech is non-existent in our music,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I performed in Korea there was a real sense of camaraderie. Even when I could not speak the Korean language, they still understood the sentiment of the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthews\u2019 worldwide success is not without a great amount of support from home. Father of two children, he expresses gratitude for his family and for their unwavering support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are always there and always present and always ready to see me succeed and be all God created me to be,\u201d he says. \u201cThey are a rock for me, they teach me about myself, and they teach me about taking care of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marvin Matthews (at the Victoria Gospel Festival)
\nSaturday, September 20
\nAlix Goolden Hall
\nhightideconcerts.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gospel singer Marvin Matthews almost pursued a career in opera singing, but because he had difficulty with opera\u2019s darker subject matter he found the light and focused his efforts on gospel music. It\u2019s a genre that allows him to share a message with the audience that is meaningful to him. \u201cI started singing in church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-september-17-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9514,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9512\/revisions\/9514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}