Just off the bustling main street in Nottingham sits a funky little bar called Dogma. It is the sort of bar that has a stigma attached to it. Apparently only the young, rich and beautiful go there. Fortunately this stigma is completely fabricated as the drinks are reasonably priced, the crowd is diverse, the atmosphere is chilled out and everything revolves around the regular live music provided by various artists from Nottingham and further a field.
Today however is a little different from normal. Today is the third `Fifty get Funky' festival. It is a hot day but this has not deterred the nonchalant crowd. The smooth blend of Funk, Soul and Jazz is debonair. It elegantly pushes its way across the room inducing every listener to almost unwittingly sit back and smile, allowing themselves to be momentarily lifted away from their lives and to simply enjoy the music. People are dancing, others are sitting on the sofas sipping beer and the rest are standing just chilling out. The musicians are very talented; not only do they play well, but they are amusing and jovial.
The `non tribute', tribute band Sticky Morales, aka `El Sticky Morales - Nottingham's Premier Soul Band', provides an eclectic mix of funky soul covers with a slight jazzy edge. Their main inspiration for the music they choose is largely from black America, but they seem to give most genres a go including 60s and 70s funk, soul, ska and even disco. Their energy is inspirational considering they are a bunch of "veterans", but they are all just in it for a "committed laugh" says lead singer Jon.
The evening is a little different though. The stage is now downstairs in the basement, the crowd is younger and louder, and the place is heaving. It is still a good atmosphere though. The music has changed too, the cool sounds of funky jazz and soul have been replaced by hip-hop, break-beat and drum and bass. However The Funky Way have somehow managed to creep into the evening line up with a bit of enthusiastic funk and soul. Their amazing sounds have the ability to liven up even the most lackadaisical of audiences and get everyone hyped up for the rest of the night. The velvety voice of Sophie Johnson Hill then sedates the room whilst the more veracious and vociferous Karizma accompanies her in conflicting yet brilliant style. Radio 1 human beatbox champion Foz, then joins them to make this amazing trio as brilliant as the promotional material makes them out to be.
The remarkable thing about this event is the fact that the artists and bands are predominantly amateur and local. Their high standard of performance and musical ability could easily lead a person, who did not know otherwise, to believe that these people are professionals. They are not though. They are normal people with extraordinary talent which is as yet undiscovered by the music world. Perhaps this is why they are so good, after all it can be difficult to understand how some of the well known bands managed to make it into the elite in the first place. Maybe it is better that they are unknown to the rest of the world and that Nottingham keeps them as its little secret, but then again they would probably beg to differ.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
