‘Nothing to Talk About’
by Joseph Arthur

Episode 6 with Chuck Prophet

Recorded by Joseph Arthur
Edited by Merritt Jacob

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www.josepharthur.com/podcasts/

Signed to Peter Gabriel’s record label in 1997, Joseph Arthur is a singer, songwriter, poet, and artist from Akron, OH. He has toured the world with shows filled with a mixture of live painting, music, and spoken word poetry. Joseph has released over 20 albums, ranging from solo records to collaborations with Dhani Harrison and Ben Harper of Fistful of Mercy, and RNDM with Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament. He has collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Michael Stipe and Coldplay, to name but a few. His latest releases are The Ballad of Boogie Christ Acts 1 & 2, part of a planned trilogy, and his new book, I Miss the Zoo and Other Poetry Selections (EM Press).

"A ‘triple threat’ artist since the mid-'90s, bridging music, poetry and painting with prolific creativity and unyielding inventiveness." - NPR

Nothing to Talk About :: ep. #6 feat. Chuck Prophet

Nabihah Iqbal | Far Out

Closer Lover

Release date 02.12.2014

"On his visit to Kinshasa James Brown dubbed him *Mister Dynamite*"  

It has been a struggle to lay hands on Verckys, although the man doesn´t go unnoticed. Notorious for being one of Congo´s most ruthless business men, the legendary musician had build a whole imperium in Kinshasa, the capital city of the central african power house (arguably one of the toughest places in the world) and has a whole building with his name, in the very heart of the city.

So I travelled to the Congo in June of 2013 to find Verckys only to find out that he headed in opposite direction to sort out his health issues. But I did meet his manager who gave me his phone number, so I called:  "Oh Monsieur Samy, we need to met, lets talk business", he said, probably not knowing that I was an independent record label, with all it represents.  But the more I spoke to the men the more I realised that he was genuinely interested in music more then anything else. The following message I received few weeks ago, confirmed my feeling:

"Samy, I am writing to you because I´m a little worried. I´ve been thinking about your selection and I now wonder if your compilation will do well due to the fact that the chosen songs had little impact in Kinshasa. Others had much more success"

I was surprised but pleased to see that he cared about the project although I had already paid him in full. But why wouldn't he? Its his music after all.

"Most of the songs you´ve selected were recorded in Nairobi, for the Kenyan market. These songs did very well there, also in Zambia, but here in the Congo they flopped...except for "Ya Nini", that was a monster hit. Still, I am very surprised you´ve mentioned it has become a legendary track in Colombia, positively surprised"

This compilation was supposed to be released in October as a limited edition of 2000 copies, but after a few Skype chats with Verckys, seeing that he has come to terms with his health issues, and pushing for a European tour come next summer, we´ve decided to release this as Analog Africa No.17 which is now going to see light of day first week of December. 

In the mean time enjoy this incredible slice of "Congolese AfroFunk", probably one of the best coming out of the continent. "Cheka Sana" has become one of the most sought after 7inch singles around (the B side is killer as well). Collectors and diggers offering crazy sums for it (I don't even dare to mention the sum here). It deserves to be heard by more then just a handful....and it should set fire to many dancefloors around the globe.

Be so kind and leave a comment in the soundcloud. I will forward all of them to Verckys himself as an encouragements to come back stronger !!! 
Thank you for reading.
Samy (Analog Africa)


Listen and buy here

Cheka Sana - Verckys & Orchestre Vévé - Analog Africa No.17 (Please leave a comment for Verckys)

Love changes everything I

Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free

Waiting and Waiting (feat. Eric D. Johnson, Josh Kaufman & Anaïs Mitchell)

Duality

Soft Laughing

El Deux + Martin Kraft - Computer Mädchen

Snippet of my new year's private party liveset. The year started very well, hope you enjoy <3

A good year

CACHE CACHE

Sexy Million Sobs