Category: Praise and Worship

The infectiousness of Hezekiah Walker’s “Every Praise” makes me recall another song.

Martha Munizzi grew up in Lakeland Florida, in a very religious and musical family. The family toured together as a christian music “team” and Martha began singing church songs as a young child.

The great, and curious, thing about this song is its Latin flavor. The song was written by Martha and Israel Houghton who was producer on one of her records. The lyrics and verses to the song came to Martha very late one night as she struggled and prayed for inspiration for one last song on an upcoming album. Israel Houghton, born in Jamaica, has fused gospel with all kinds of different music. It was Israel who set the song to the strong, funky, Latin beat.

One summer our gospel choir traveled to perform in Brazil. Our first concert was a joint concert hosted by a small Brazilian school for arts. The “kids” were amazing singers and dancers! As the joint closing song we sang “Glorious”. Although the kids struggled a bit with the english lyrics, their dancing, clapping and energy more than made up for it. It was a VERY memorable moment for all involved.

LASTLY, there is a female percussionist/drummer who has followed in the footsteps of early Latin musicians like Xavier Cugat (“The Rumba King”) and Pérez Prado. Sheila E. is known around the world for her Latin drummer style. And what a TREAT when Shelia E. joins Martha Munizzi to perform “Glorious” together. LOVE this video.

Hezekiah Walker is one of the progenitors of praise and worship gospel songs. They are easy to sing, have great messages, and lend themselves to marvelous music videos.

“Every Praise” is one of his best. I can remember vividly ending a joint concert in Portugal with the combined choirs singing “Every Praise”. Not long into the song, EVERYONE in the church was on their feet, singing, clapping, swaying…it was a great happening when the “spirit” seemed to fill the entire room.

AND, while I have here, take the time to watch the music video for the song that was filmed at Five Points South on the south side of Birmingham Alabama. It is a great “Flash Mob” type happening. There was a time when a blg group of people of color dancing and singing in the streets of Birmingham would not have gone over well…some progress has been made.