Music is a fundamental aspect of human development and culture – in short, what it is to be human. It is even more so when it takes the form of an expression of our intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. For more than ten years, the Malaysian Gospel Music (MGM) has been at the forefront of worship among our nation’s Christians.
Malaysian Gospel Music (MGM) was founded in 2011 to advance and raise the standard of Gospel Music in Malaysia. It was created as a platform for Malaysian Christian artists to impact our churches, culture, and community. Besides being a platform, MGM also has an established position as a prominent community for Christian artists, musicians, songwriters, and producers. Through events and gatherings, musicians and producers mutually encourage one another in ministry work expressed through worship and music.
In the 11 years of MGM’s history, they have grown to encompass several vernacular communities of Christian local music makers. Among these are HIS Music Feast (a community of Mandarin-language worshippers), MIGAW (worshippers celebrating God in Tamil), and GoSing Community (an interdenominational community that also serves as an ecumenical platform). MGM has also taken on leadership roles in the music arena, conducting concerts and workshops, producing albums, showcasing songwriters, and running the School of Worship (SoW).
The SoW, in particular, serves as a discipleship and training school for aspiring local musicians and worship leaders. It was established to Nurture new and upcoming worship leaders in the country, Encourage locally composed worship songs to be sung in our churches, Network worship leaders to create a national worship identity and fellowship, Inspire local songwriters to compose songs for the nation, and Bring understanding, experience, and depth to worship leaders.
After a hiatus of 2-3 years due to the pandemic, MGM finally converged on the 12th of November 2022 at Wisma Eagles for the major music event MGM Festival 2022. The day began early with a series of workshops covering a comprehensive spectrum of topics. Well-known local Christian musicians Juwita Suwito, Vince Seah, Raymond Tan, Ng Wah Lok, Alvin Tan, Timothy Lim, and Jeffrey Yong taught whole rooms of aspiring talents the aspects of vocal training, principles of songwriting, and worship leading. There were even workshops on video production and on how to construct and select the best acoustic guitars!
People arrived early for the night concert, and there were several hundred – perhaps close to a thousand – that filled the entire hall. Those who had registered were also blessed with free albums. The MGM Festival 2022 concert is a significant event because it was not just about the music. It was a place where young people in worship teams from many churches and Christian bands could come together and celebrate God through songs that were of their own compositions. Because it was also a participatory event of worship, it was a wonderful time of unity across the churches. Several leading gospel Malaysian music makers such as Brian John Yim, Patrick Leong, and Juwita Suwito highlighted the concert which lasted for a memorable 4 hours without anyone realising the time passing.
Earlier, MGM President Pastor Dr. Nicholas Wu had said “In line with our vision, we have conducted many events such as concerts, workshops, and showcases throughout the years. MGM Festival is the pinnacle of it all and we are truly blessed to be able to assemble the most accomplished musicians to run workshops and perform this year.”
“We have many talents in songwriting, vocal singing, worship leading, and AV production. Our workshops intend to lend them a helping hand in sharpening their skills, while the concert aims to continue aspiring them to reach greater heights,” he added.
To find out more about Malaysian Gospel Music (MGM) and their ministry, you may visit https://www.mgm.com.my/ All photos kindly contributed by Malaysian Gospel Music (MGM)
|Share The Good News|
Leave a Reply