Black American Stars Fire Sales of Audio Bible

PlayStation 3 may be the holy grail of American consumerism this Christmas but another item is causing an unexpected stir in the aisles - a dramatised audio Bible.

The 21-hour Bible Experience, based on Today's New International Version of the Bible, is read exclusively by black actors with Denzel Washington as Solomon and Samuel L Jackson in the role of God.

It is a surprise fixture at the top of the US audio books best-sellers lists - largely due to so many well-known voices among the 250 African-American artists, says the Michigan publisher, Zondervan.

"The personalities, sound effects and original musical score make this the freshest, most compelling and thoroughly modern way to learn and understand the Bible," said Paul Caminiti, its vice president.

Wal-Mart reports that it has been at or near top spot for audio books on its website for weeks. It has had sales of 80,000 in just over a month - the next best-selling audio Bible in the US, also by Zondervan, clears barely 60,000 a year.

The production has the whole New Testament and part of the Old, an original score recorded by the Prague Symphony Orchestra and is on CDs and MP3 format. "We're living in the sight and sound generation, we had to utilise today's technology," said executive producer Ron Belk.Other black actors include Cuba Gooding Jr as Judas, Blair Underwood as Jesus and Angela Bassett as Esther.

Its success has led the production company to start on a more ambitious Old Testament for next year. Musical producer Lou Brown said more African-American actors had joined the big names. "The buzz spread through the black community in Hollywood like wildfire," he said.