Amazing Grace by Wintley Phipps - Term Paper Example

The rendition of Amazing Grace by Wintley Phipps in the Carnegie Hall not just stirs the heart of one and all but it also makes one realize the futility of widely dispersed conflicts of human relationships that are influenced by racism, class, color and culture. The introduction and history of Amazing Grace by Phipps highlights his prowess of significantly impacting his audience and shows that hymns cut across all sort of boundaries set by man. He reinforces to the people that God has amazing ways to enlighten the wicked person.

John Newton, the lyricist of Amazing Grace, a conformist non believer and captain of a slave trading ship is reformed and this hymn shows his fervent plea to people to try for redemption for their sins. The rendition is also significant because Wintley has shown that like all other religious hymns, Amazing Grace can also be played on black notes of the piano. He has rightly claimed that while the song is ‘white spiritual built on black notes’, the song is played on pentatonic scale, more frequently used in eastern culture and African songs is not constrained by any single culture.

I seriously believe that this poignant performance by Phipps is his way of spreading the profound message of universal brotherhood and that music has infinite healing power. His use of ‘Hallelujah’ signifies his belief of one God for all and is perhaps a call for spiritual redemption of soul that transcends human physicality.