Roots are found in the creeks and cracks of this city. Be it in a record store, hanging from a wall, on the radio, or spoken outside a concert hall, if you haven’t felt it yet, you must be ducking the Amsterdam core. This city is not only made up of soul sellers giving up their freedom to the Babylon merchant. Despite governmental efforts strangling squatting, the laws have not torn down the rundown walls or silenced the honest songs. The history is still being written. We want to explore these roots as they continue to grow.

THE FLAME IS STILL ALIVE, an old Paradise bird told me during anthropological research on subcultures last year. A fire that remains untamed by the commodification it is surrounded by.
It was from multiple conversations with old-timers and newcomers in the creative sphere, the idea to create a platform began to take shape.
To see so many people believe in this project early on proved that not only is the flame still alive, it’s red hot!
Each issue of Underdam Magazine will voice different people and themes that deserve amplification. With the help of your words on these pages, let us spread this fire together.