Certain songs still have the power to lift people’s spirits. In CBS’s Weekend Journal, reporter Barry Petersen explores how gospel music—born out of the experience of enslaved Americans—has found a deep, emotional following in Paris.
Veteran gospel and jazz singer Linda Lee Hopkins often gathers friends to sing, inviting the congregation into a shared moment of feeling. Many in the audience may not understand English, but they respond to the emotion and energy the performers send out. Hopkins has been singing in Paris for more than thirty years and says that connection is what keeps audiences coming back.
The French fascination with gospel traces back decades. The Golden Gate Quartet’s extended run in Paris in 1958 helped introduce and popularize the form, turning gospel into a beloved presence on the city’s musical scene. Today, Parisians line up to hear choirs and soloists perform.
Groups such as Gospel Dream regularly rehearse and warm up before concerts. Choir leader Audrey Mamor argues that the music carries its message even without a shared language: “The spirit of God goes beyond language,” she says. “People feel the joy and the love.”
Inside a Paris church, that feeling becomes obvious: hands clap, faces light up, and the congregation responds to the rhythms, harmonies, and heartfelt delivery. What began as a distinctly American tradition continues to cross cultural borders, touching listeners who may not know every word but unmistakably share in the joy. Barry Petersen, CBS News, Paris.