40 Fingers Instrumental cover of “Life on Mars”
40 Fingers is a four-man string quartet (4 x 10 fingers— get it?). Their YouTube video touts this instrumental cover of “Life on Mars” as “like you’ve never heard it before.” Which is true, though I’ve heard plenty of instrumental versions of Bowie songs. I like this less for its originality and more just because it is well done. Also, this is a real video. Unless it’s a special effect, somehow the group found a place with red sand dunes that looks like the surface of Mars to stage their performance (the implication being that the group brought some life to Mars by showing up and playing the song).
This exercise of reviewing Bowie covers on a weekly basis has given me a greater appreciation of the videos themselves. That shouldn’t make a difference in terms of the music quality, but it does. It does, but also it gives the piece a second artistic aspect. This video isn’t especially complicated, but it shows care for the visual element.
I encounter fewer amateur covers of “Life on Mars?” than you might think. 40 Fingers is not an amateur group at all, and that’s consistent— it seems the song is more apt to be covered by professionals. I have a general understanding that aspects of it are challenging. Perhaps that’s why professionals take it on—to meet the challenge. That, and it is a serious contender for Bowie’s greatest song (not my absolute favorite, but more objectively possibly his best). In any case, this group pulls it off well.
According to the group’s website, 40 Fingers is an Italian guitar quartet formed in 2017 that now features Matteo Brenci, Emanuele Grafitti, Enrico Maria Milanesi, and Andrea Vittori. They are known for their fingerpicking technique and wide-ranging repertoire that blends jazz, Latin styles, film scores, and reimagined classics from artists like Queen, The Beatles, and Eric Clapton (and now Bowie). Their breakout moment came with a viral arrangement of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and they have since collaborated with artists including Andrea Bocelli, Tori Kelly, and Andy Summers.
Learn more about 40 Fingers at their website HERE.
