Matthias Huff: Feel the Spirit! – Sternstunden der Gospelmusik

In the organizer's words:

Reading with live music by Emma Bombach (vocals) and Elias Huff (guitar)

For Matthias Huff, gospel music is the best thing that could have happened to Christianity - and a source of fascinating stories. He takes us on a journey through several centuries of gospel music. In 30 gripping stories, he tells of the slave trader's about-face that spawned Amazing Grace and Harriet Tubman's fight for freedom with Go Down Moses; of rocking guitar heroine Rosetta Tharpe and Elvis' love of gospel; of legendary concert moments by Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Bob Marley; and of the inner struggles of Kirk Franklin and CeCe Winans in the present day.
The book sheds light on the cultural, historical and spiritual background of gospel music, which transcends all cultural boundaries and whose power still echoes in modern pop music today - and inspires 100,000 members in 3000 gospel choirs in Germany.

Emma Bombach (vocals) and Elias Huff (guitar) accompany the reading with swinging interpretations of gospel classics.

Matthias Huff, born in 1962, is a journalist. Initially as a reporter at the ZDF regional studio in Berlin, and since 2000 as editorial director at KiKA, he has focused on popular music and religion. He has won the "Sonderpreis Kultur/Grimme" and the "Goldener Kompass" for programs on Christianity. He has been a Johnny Cash fan since childhood, lives in Erfurt, is married and has two children.

Admission: 12 €
Tickets at the Peterknecht bookshop, all Ticket Shop Thüringen advance booking offices and at

Photo © Mascha Stopar