Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers, fronted by the legend Arp Frique, has unveiled their newest masterpiece, “The Gospel of Jesamy,” out now through the esteemed COLORFUL WORLD (Rush Hour Music). This album is a kaleidoscopic mix of P-funk, gospel, and disco, described by Arp Frique, the trailblazing funk visionary, as a pure fusion of soul-driven genres. All of them stem from the identical musical roots, expressing the soul in distinctive methods whereas capturing uncooked, visceral vitality. This launch marks one other milestone in Arp Frique’s journey to redefine what fashionable funk and disco are.
This time, Arp Frique is joined by standout vocalists Brandon Delagraentiss and Rocq-E Harrell. Their mixed skills, alongside longtime collaborators Marissa Nyamekye and Marilonah Copra, type a vibrant collective that fuels what Arp Frique describes as a funk circus, able to take heart stage at main festivals like Eurosonic and North Sea Jazz in 2025.
In an unique interview, Arp Frique delves into the inventive course of behind “The Gospel of Jesamy,” reflecting on his method to mixing genres and his love for uncooked, unpolished manufacturing. He explains how spirituality shapes his work, utilizing gospel as a automobile for common messages and collective expression. With a profession that has seen him tour the world, collaborate with musical legends, and even department out into trend design, Arp Frique stays an artist who consistently reinvents himself. Be a part of us, and let’s see what this visionary artist has in retailer for us at the moment.
Your new album, The Gospel of Jesamy, combines components of P-funk, gospel, and disco. How did you method mixing these genres, and what impressed this distinctive sound?
To me, they’re all one and the identical. All of them derive from the identical tree of music; to be trustworthy, truly, all music does. Be it different rock, home, techno, jazz, or nation, all of it begins with the blues and religious music. All variations on a theme. Once I was an adolescent, I went from MJ and Madonna straight into Nirvana and RHCP. So my scope on music has all the time been very broad. Gospel and disco are such a pure mixture, two other ways to specific the soul in music. P-funk for me is a taste, a shade, an perspective, one thing extra visceral as an alternative of cerebral. It’s mainly every part in my thoughts and physique merged into one.
You’ve labored with legendary artists like Ronald Snijders and have gained followers like Gilles Peterson and Louie Vega, to call just a few. How do these collaborations and endorsements affect your inventive course of?
Properly, I might say Ronald’s music positively had an affect. I used to be just a little fanboy once I first met him, completely in love together with his 70s recordings. Once I actually received to know him, I found our method to creating music could be very comparable. We each function as a one-man band within the dwelling studio (in my case, I confer with this because the Instances Warp Studio), and this solo method actually makes the distinction. There’s something magical when a non-professional bass participant like me performs bass, keys, or something. One thing I additionally hear on Stevie Marvel’s albums, as an example: I don’t suppose many individuals see him as a drummer, however he positively did file his personal drums, and it provides to the quirkiness. Stevie on drums is so not excellent, so not what skilled drummers would play, it’s the perfect, he’s my favourite drummer. I additionally found this in my very own music. I bear in mind once I first despatched a demo 8 years in the past to Rush Hour, and so they completely beloved it. I needed to re-record all elements as a result of I felt it was too sloppy, not professional sufficient. Fortunately, they made me perceive that this may have been a really dangerous concept and would have squeezed all of the life out of it. My demos are the ultimate variations. I don’t do demos. What I begin with is the way it finally ends up on the file.
Your dwell performances with The Perpetual Singers convey unbelievable vitality. What’s the key to creating such a vibrant and interesting stage presence?
The true secret is the aim of the factor. Life has been and nonetheless isn’t simple. A number of ache, loads of struggling. Additionally, the surface world, the world we dwell in, wow, what a large number on the worldwide political stage. Once more, a lot ache and struggling. To maintain my spirit up, and I feel this goes for most individuals, I want a objective, a dream, a aim, an escape right into a magical however actual different actuality. The stage is a protected, magical, plentiful realm for me. This offers me with a lot vitality, I can really feel it tingle, actually. All I do is switch that to the band and the viewers.
Rocq-E Harrell and Brandon Delagraentiss play key roles in your upcoming album. Are you able to inform us about working with them and the way their distinctive types formed this challenge?
They’re two Individuals residing in Holland. I first stumbled upon Brandon by Instagram, and I used to be particularly touched by his solo singing. He has a sure emotional contact and frequency in his voice; it can’t be faked. It comes with the expertise of life, and he has it. He’s the son of a Texan preacher, so we immediately linked when it got here to the massive vocal method I wanted for this album. He’s the director of a gospel choir in Amsterdam, and in his choir, there was this superb singer I had by no means heard of earlier than, Rocq-E. This girl labored with most of the best in music, corresponding to Stevie, Aretha, Diana Ross, and Barry White. I imply, that’s insane! She brings all these experiences to the studio; you possibly can really feel the historical past of soul music when she is within the room, and it echoes by her voice.
Your travels and excursions, from Asia to KEXP and Purple Bull Music periods, have been an essential a part of your profession. How do completely different cultures and locations affect your music?
My travels haven’t been the most important contributor to my music. The range truly stems from my dwelling nation, as bizarre as which will appear. Within the two foremost cities in Holland (Rotterdam and Amsterdam), the place I’ve spent most of my days to date, we’re blessed with a really vibrant combination of cultures, because of migration over the a long time. I began out a long time in the past, working with largely Cape Verdean musicians. My earlier band consisted of musicians from Ghana, Surinam, Cape Verde, Curaçao, and Indonesia. I grew up in Rotterdam, the place music was blasting out of individuals’s properties and vehicles throughout me. I absorbed a lot stuff from Eritrea, Brazil, Guadeloupe, and the checklist goes on and on. It’s all in there. I can relate to most music and take a look at it from my funk-based method to music. I can hear the funk in zouk music, in funana, in kaseko.
You’ve not too long ago ventured into the style world by designing your personal hats, featured in Dutch journal Mirror Mirror. How does your inventive expression in trend hook up with your music?
I all the time felt that trend for males, and I imply the stuff you should buy in most shops, is past sucky and boring. Colour-dead, lifeless, dry, generic, conformist. I feel in colours and shapes once I make music, and I utilized this to design as properly, beginning with my movies as an example. My dwelling can be a really apparent instance of this method, enjoying with colours and shapes. I additionally love designing units for movies, identical concept. I needed to do it myself, I made a decision. So I got here up with the idea of constructing hats for my dwell reveals and movies, incorporating architectural influences blended with my concepts on colourful expressions of fashion and mind-set. It now seems to have drawn fairly some consideration from stylists, trend mags, and photographers. I’m actually having fun with this inventive mode of expression by trend, I would dive into this a lot deeper within the close to future.
Your upcoming tour consists of main festivals like Eurosonic, North Sea Jazz, and Oya. What can followers anticipate from Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers on stage in 2025?
They will anticipate a rock ‘n’ soul circus, infused with religious and energizing mini-adventures. At one in all our first reveals, the viewers created a mosh pit, so I now declare that is the first-ever gospel mosh pit in historical past. I like this collision of worlds that seemingly are so distant till we throw all of it collectively within the combine. I like my reveals to be intense, dramatic, virtually like a musical, a narrative that evolves and makes you cry when you are in ecstasy. I’m right here to entertain you, and we feed off your vitality. It’s an change of frequencies. For the dwell factor, I’m very a lot influenced by Prince and lots of others of the greats. I hope Prince is digging what we do when he sees it from his little purple cloud within the sky.
Religion and spirituality appear to play a job in your music, notably in The Gospel of Jesamy. How do these themes affect your songwriting and inventive imaginative and prescient?
I used to be not raised with any non secular or religious custom; this all got here a lot, a lot later. I found there’s extra to this place we dwell in, one thing we can’t see. One thing it’s worthwhile to expertise first to consider it. I’m not non secular, however I do consider in a creating pressure. I take a look at it from many angles: scientifically (the code of life), nature (the Fibonacci sequence in flowers, for instance), philosophical (essence of life, faculty of life), and paired with private experiences. I attempt to convert lots of my experiences, the great and the dangerous, right into a message that’s common. Gospel is a fantastic automobile for this, particularly because the group vocals produce a polyphonic instrument that’s imperfect and religious in itself. Each voice stems from a human being, a human with ups and downs in life. All of it determines what comes out of their mouths, and the sum of this could be a chord, a concord. Probably the most highly effective instrument I might discover.
Wanting again in your profession to date, from working with legends to constructing a world fanbase, what have been your most rewarding moments, and what are your objectives for the long run?
I typically should remind myself how particular it’s that I’m able to do all this. So many musicians wish to, however by no means will be capable to do that so massive, all around the world. The mere indisputable fact that I’m able to do that, each within the studio and dwell for some unbelievable audiences, is my largest reward to date. My objectives have already been fulfilled: I’m doing what I’m imagined to be doing. It’s a objective in life, and whenever you discover it and make it occur, you are feeling aligned and in contact together with your future. So, my aim is the place I’m proper now. I make the flower develop and develop, like it’s my second little one subsequent to my primary, my daughter Jesamy. Would like to develop outdated collectively, Jesamy, the music and me.
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