The London-based R&B gospel deejay ANDY PAYNE

Any long-term reader of Cross Rhythms will know the name Andy Payne. For three years he's been busily reviewing the best of sanctified dance bringing to people's attention many a dancefloor delight. Currently the born and bred Londoner deejays once a month at the Voyager, Unity Centre, Peckham where he plays "pure gospel house" and at Psalms, Chimes, Clapton where he spins "R&B-oriented gospel".

Not for Andy any dalliance with chart or mainstream music. "Everything I play is gospel or inspirational music with one or two instrumentals," Andy reports. About his audience he says, "The audience I'm playing for is about 95 per cent black and 95 per cent Christian so it's quite different from a club audience like Abundance which is about 60 per cent white and 60 per cent Christian." Andy feels that the black/white divide which sharply separates both the church and club land is something that grieves God and which needs to be broken down. "The problem has to be addressed by everybody. There are different tastes in different cultural groups but given the chance music, and particularly Christian music, can break down barriers. We need promoters who will put on events that will bring black and white audiences together."

As well as his club land activities, Andy is production assistant for the weekly Christian music show on Eclipse FM presented by Andy Castle (which you can read about on page 40 of this very issue). Andy got his start in radio by doing two stints with Radio Cracker ("the first time before I was even a Christian I was playing gospel music!") and subsequently the Brixton-based Gospel Outreach which broadcast with a 28 day RSL licence. Andy's future hopes for Christian music (alongside the omnipresent wish that companies would wake up to the need for vinyl) is that there should be more Christian dance on the radio ("there's a desperate need for a station like Premier to put a decent Christian dance show on the airwaves") and for UK Christian companies to speed up their release of US dance albums ("waiting six months for Alliance to release N-Soul albums is way, way too long, particularly with music as high turnover as dance music"). But on the whole, Andy is happy with the expansion of the sanctified dance scene. "It's growing and that we must be very thankful for."