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 power. 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 strategy to mixing genres and his love for uncooked, unpolished manufacturing. He explains how spirituality shapes his work, utilizing gospel as a car 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 strategy 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 various rock, home, techno, jazz, or nation, all of it begins with the blues and non secular 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 at all times 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 a substitute of cerebral. It’s principally all the pieces 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 a couple of. How do these collaborations and endorsements affect your inventive course of?
Nicely, I’d say Ronald’s music undoubtedly had an impression. I used to be slightly fanboy after I first met him, completely in love together with his 70s recordings. Once I actually bought to know him, I found our strategy to creating music could be very related. We each function as a one-man band within the dwelling studio (in my case, I check with this because the Occasions Warp Studio), and this solo strategy 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 Surprise’s albums, as an illustration: I don’t suppose many individuals see him as a drummer, however he undoubtedly did report 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 one of the best, he’s my favourite drummer. I additionally found this in my very own music. I keep in mind after I first despatched a demo 8 years in the past to Rush Hour, and so they completely cherished it. I wished to re-record all components as a result of I felt it was too sloppy, not professional sufficient. Fortunately, they made me perceive that this could have been a really dangerous thought 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 report.
Your dwell performances with The Perpetual Singers deliver unimaginable power. What’s the key to creating such a vibrant and fascinating stage presence?
The true secret is the aim of the factor. Life has been and nonetheless shouldn’t be straightforward. Loads of ache, a variety of struggling. Additionally, the skin world, the world we dwell in, wow, what a multitude 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 function, a dream, a objective, an escape right into a magical however actual various actuality. The stage is a protected, magical, considerable realm for me. This supplies me with a lot power, 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 kinds formed this mission?
They’re two Individuals dwelling in Holland. I first stumbled upon Brandon by way of 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 related when it got here to the large vocal strategy I wanted for this album. He’s the director of a gospel choir in Amsterdam, and in his choir, there was this wonderful singer I had by no means heard of earlier than, Rocq-E. This girl labored with lots of the biggest in music, equivalent to Stevie, Aretha, Diana Ross, and Barry White. I imply, that’s insane! She brings all these experiences to the studio; you may really feel the historical past of soul music when she is within the room, and it echoes by way of her voice.
Your travels and excursions, from Asia to KEXP and Purple Bull Music classes, 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 largest contributor to my music. The range truly stems from my dwelling nation, as bizarre as that will appear. Within the two principal cities in Holland (Rotterdam and Amsterdam), the place I’ve spent most of my days thus far, 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 principally 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 houses and vehicles throughout me. I absorbed a lot stuff from Eritrea, Brazil, Guadeloupe, and the record 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 strategy to music. I can hear the funk in zouk music, in funana, in kaseko.
You’ve lately ventured into the style world by designing your individual hats, featured in Dutch journal Mirror Mirror. How does your inventive expression in trend hook up with your music?
I at all times felt that trend for males, and I imply the stuff you should purchase in most shops, is past sucky and boring. Shade-dead, lifeless, dry, generic, conformist. I feel in colours and shapes after I make music, and I utilized this to design as nicely, beginning with my movies as an illustration. My dwelling can be a really apparent instance of this strategy, enjoying with colours and shapes. I additionally love designing units for movies, similar thought. 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 way of 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 count on from Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers on stage in 2025?
They’ll count on a rock ‘n’ soul circus, infused with non secular and energizing mini-adventures. At considered one of 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, nearly like a musical, a narrative that evolves and makes you cry while you’re in ecstasy. I’m right here to entertain you, and we feed off your power. 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 task 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 non secular 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 not see. One thing you should expertise first to imagine it. I’m not non secular, however I do imagine 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 matched with private experiences. I attempt to convert a lot of my experiences, the great and the dangerous, right into a message that’s common. Gospel is a ravishing car for this, particularly for the reason that group vocals produce a polyphonic instrument that’s imperfect and non secular 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 generally is a chord, a concord. Probably the most highly effective instrument I might discover.
Wanting again in your profession thus far, from working with legends to constructing a worldwide fanbase, what have been your most rewarding moments, and what are your objectives for the long run?
I typically need to 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, everywhere in the world. The mere proven fact that I’m able to do that, each within the studio and dwell for some unimaginable audiences, is my greatest reward thus far. My objectives have already been fulfilled: I’m doing what I’m purported to be doing. It’s a function in life, and once you discover it and make it occur, you’re feeling aligned and in contact together with your future. So, my objective is the place I’m proper now. I make the flower develop and develop, like it’s my second youngster subsequent to my primary, my daughter Jesamy. Would like to develop outdated collectively, Jesamy, the music and me.
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