Fata Morgana is a six piece funk machine that has recently crash landed onto the Amsterdam music scene. Don’t let these fresh faces deceive you, because their stuff is so funky it’s as if it has been fermenting in barrels filled in the 70s with Sly and the Family’s Stone’s bellbottoms, Bootsy Collin’s boogers and James Browns chest hair. It stanks, guys.
Disco, Funk, Afrobeat and every kind of soul powered groove music has been making a comeback in recent years and it is sounds like music to my ears. These young disciples of soul are the latest to turn from students into masters as they consistently cause stampedes on the dancefloor. Try as you might, you WILL get up and dance.
Their repertoire, mostly self-written materials mixed in with a few time-tested classics, ranges from Soul Train worthy disco tracks to tight dance stompers in the style of the JBs and Parliament to groovy Afrobeat anthems by Fela Kuti. They’ve got the horns, they got the heart and they’ve got the hair, so, if you ask me, there ain’t no stopping them now.
Right now, they are popping up all across the city wherever there is a chance to cause musical mayhem. In October they had the honor of kicking-off Paradiso’s Super Sonic Jazz Festival, which they absolutely smashed and which landed them a TV-appearance on AT5. They’ve been rehearsing at Helicopter for a couple of months now, where they recently shot the promo for their fundraising campaign to raise money for their first EP, set to be released next summer. If you like what you’ve heard on stage or seen on Instagram and you want to hear more, don’t feel shy to help them out.
I for one can’t wait to see what these funksters make happen in the studio and we hope to welcome them to an extra funky edition of Launchpad coming season. We will soon find out whether we’ve got the next Jungle By Night on our hands to remind the world that Amsterdam is the place where the soul soup has never cooled down but is bubbling on, hot and ready to be served.
Join the Fundraiser here