Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

DJ Xlnc (right) guest selects on the gospel sound system Joy-Hipower. DJ Tano (left) is the sound's resident selector. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

Selecting God every time, gospel disc jockeys are spreading the ministry through music.

Most persons may not be aware of the presence of gospel selectors but sounds such as Joy Hipower, Hyprayz and Golden Touch are doing their best to make music as clean as possible. One of the more popular gospel selectors around is Marshall Redwood aka DJ Marshyredz from Hyprayz sound system. He regularly plays for Praise House and has also worked at 'Genesis', 'Recharge' and other shows.

He also plays for Mega Jams 98FM every Sunday on 'Holy Flow'. According to Redwood, a gospel selector is "a pastor who preaches the message via CDs. He can choose to have a certain topic to focus on, such as righteousness. I've been doing this for 20 years".

Altano Morgan, aka DJ Tano, of Joy Hipower has been in the business for the last six years playing at events such as Teen Summit and has worked alongside Kirk Franklin. For Morgan, a gospel selector has to be a Christian who knows the ministry of music. He told The Gleaner: "there are three types of music; God communicating to man, man communicating with God (that is gospel music) and man to man, which is like love songs that you play at weddings."

Spreading the word of God

At the end of the day, gospel selecting is all about spreading the Word of God as much as possible. Redwood claims he does not do it for the profit but to spread the gospel. As such, he only plays gospel music unless he is playing at a wedding, where he plays wedding songs.

According to the DJ, when he first began playing he got a lot of criticism from the religious community who doubted preaching in a party format. In recent times, he testifies that people have come around to the idea. "It's a wholesome concept. I don't have to wonder if my children will find something degrading to listen to. The songs I play give people hope," he said.

While he plays mainly at Christian events, he does get invited to the occasional secular shows. He claims that these shows pay more money but he only gets a mere 15 minutes to play his music then it's back to the popular form. According to him, "The crowd appreciates it but they are not used to it and want it to finish soon."

Marshall claims that there are not enough gospel selectors around. Off hand he can only think of seven DJs and only two of whom are very experienced. DJ Tano also testified that at present gospel selecting is not a full-time job as there are not enough shows to go on. However, he does see gospel selecting reaching further.

"I see different avenues for gospel selecting, more family entertainment. People relate to us and we want to transform and bring change," he said.

Marshall Redwood, akaDJ Marshyredz, of the Hyprayz gospel sound system. - Contributed