The 40-strong SOUNDS OF BLACKNESS are storming the charts and proving that not all the music of the mainstream is godless hedonism. The group gave an in-depth interview to Jan Willem Vink.

For a lot of the members of the group your African origins must be very diverse. So how can you describe your African identity?

(Gary) "Africa is our homeland. But because of the historical circumstances with slavery and the lack of record keeping as it related to the slave experience, we will never be able to say 'You are from the Dahomey nation, I'm from Ghana, you were from Mali or Songay. We may never know our specific roots. But nonetheless Africa is our political, cultural and even spiritual homeland. You can hear it in our music, even 400 years removed from the African continent. There are many Africanisms, the way that we worship, the way that we shout, the way that we do the holy dance, all of that is directly from Africa. So we are still an African people. We are nationalised Americans by 400 years and our fore-parents put so much in the making of the United States of America. But Africa is still our cultural homeland."

But if you recognise the fact that it's been 400 years since most people came, and you are not aware where you exactly came from and every people has their own rituals and traditions, how can you speak of an African identity? I think there isn't an African identity in Africa itself.

(Gary) "Well, there is in the same way as we can say that there is a European identity, but it's specific to different countries. Again, when we speak of Africa, the second largest continent in the world, and 700 languages and over 1000 dialects, all different nation states, as you know. But again, we African Americans, you can't explain us in terms of everything from the way we walk, the way we talk, the way we make music, the way we worship, the way we look. We can't be explained without Africa, that's the homeland. The same way that Italian Americans relate to their homeland and Irish Americans and so forth. They hold on to their country's music and culture, food, dances, worship in the same way, even though again we can't do the direct links because of the slave experience, but nonetheless that's our heritage."

But on the other hand, your Christian element is very important to you. But that was not something that you took over from Africa.

(Gary) "Well, you have to remember historically that Christianity was in Africa before it was in Europe. Christianity is not at all new to the African continent. Although many of the West African people were Islamic or were of the animist belief, where they worship God in everything throughout the heavens and land and the earth and the birds of the air. We even have religious ties to Africa even though many of us, our fore-parents, from different regions, may not have been Christians when they were brought here. The style of worship, that incorporated God in every aspect of life, was very African-based."

So how does that translate in concrete terms?

That translates in concrete terms with people like the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, etc who put their Christianity to work in the streets for the people. The European notion of church and state is fairly alien to African people, because they see God active in every part of life. From our perspective God cannot be excluded from the political process or life on the streets. He is at the centre of these things and not only in the terms of civil rights but in our music, in our dance, in all of our different struggles."

How did you get to meet Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis?

(Gary) "We've had the blessing and honour to know Jam and Lewis both personally and professionally for over 20 years. We've known them since the mid 70s; we've known their families including Terry's eldest brother, Daryl Lewis who is an internationally renowned professor of law and also an NCA referee official. Back in the days of the Flight Time band, when Jimmy and Terry were playing together with Morris Day and Alexander O'Neill, who by the way is a former Sounds Of Blackness member, many times the Sounds Of Blackness and the Flight Time band would appear at the same festival or function. Sometimes the annual urban league dinner or Miss Black Minnesota Pageant or something like that. The Sounds Of Blackness would open the evening and the Flight Time Band would close the evening. So we would spend hours backstage talking with each other and keeping up with each others careers. When Jimmy and Terry came into international prominence as record producers in the 80s, they never lost touch with the group. When they were in town they would bring their families to the Christmas show, in fact Terry Lewis even one time, we had a 60s show which was a tribute to R&B artists of the 60s, Terry Lewis was at that performance and helped run the soundboard for us a couple of times. So we had a direct linkage for many, many years. When they signed us, the first thing they said was: 'Don't change'. And they knew our different concepts, so that's why all our three different albums have been based on pre-existing concepts, "Evolution Of Gospel', "Night Before Christmas', which Anne has the starring role as the mother and now "Africa To America'."

Have Jam and Lewis influenced the group much?

(Gary) "Very much so, they have brought their production expertise. But first and foremost they have brought their warmth and love to the group. We lovingly refer to them as honorary members of the group, because we are coming from the same places, spiritually, musically and philosophically, but certainly they brought their production expertise as executive producers, their songwriting expertise, but mainly their warmth and spirit and their sense of humour, which a lot of times doesn't get pointed out about them. They have a great sense of humour."

You incorporate all kinds of black styles in your music. When new trends and styles arise, do you try to incorporate them as well?

(Gary) "We do...and if your question maybe implies hip hop, the notion of putting rhyme to the drum and rhythm is something that goes all the way back to West Africa. But even hip hop is hardly a new style, before the current rappers there were Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Blow and before them their forerunners were people like the Last Poets and Gilscott Heron and so forth. You can always trace back the lineage in music. We have that on 'Africa To America', the song "We Are The Drum". I just mentioned Anne's daughter, Meecy, who in addition to being an incredible vocalist and songwriter, is also a great rapper. She did a rap on 'St Nicolas Is Here' on the Christmas album and we had a rap on the first album, hip hop-style, on our cover of 'Stand' by Sly And The Family Stone, by a Prof T of Low Keys who is part of the perspective family. So yes Sounds Of Blackness intend to integrate all the different emerging variations of African American music."