A Biblical Understanding of Musical Elements
“God desires music to be sung in an intelligible and a distinct manner, enabled by His Spirit so that both the text and music can be understood for the intended response (1 Corinthians 14:15).” - P&D
Far from being unique to pop music, it's quite common in classical music going back to Bach and Handel. Here's an example from Handel, "Hornpipe" from the Water Music. It's also worth noting that since the stress in Hebrew is generally on the second or last syllable, offbeat music tends to work very well with that language, as Klezmer fans (e.g. me) can tell you.
I'm also not sure why it would be a bad thing that the use of syncopation would lead to "uncanny pleasure", and I can state from experience that lively syncopation can lead a person to submit to the Biblical command to praise the Lord in dance (Psalm 150). I would argue that the structure of the ancient languages, combined with the nature of how God told us to praise Him, almost commands a degree of syncopation in some of our church music.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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