Froukje (52) from Leeuwarden with ABBA The Music in Ahoy: ‘Björn and Benny are the Beethoven and Bach of pop music’

For the few who don’t know you: who is Froukje Kits?

“I have been a singer in the cover band Boulevard for more than thirty years, with which we have always been able to play a lot. But due to the rise of DJs, the disco circuit has changed significantly in recent years. Since then, things have come my way every now and then. Such as the northern cover band ABBA Experience, not to be confused with ABBA The Music. And I do the backing for the Limburg singer René Shuman.”

And you work for MBN Productions, which produces theater shows, among other things.

,,Beats. These are often tributes to bands, artists or music movements. And not with mustaches, wigs and caps. We are all about the music, as the addition ‘The Music’ already indicates. Of course it’s fun to wear a glittery dress with this repertoire, but it doesn’t have to be exactly the outfits that Agnetha and Anni-Frid wore.”

ABBA The Music toured the theaters for two years. You weren’t there in the first year .

“No, normally I do marketing and publicity for MBN, and also more and more production work. The composition and editing of performances, their planning. The fact that I eventually ended up on stage was due to the illness of one of the singers. There was a moment of panic, but as a huge ABBA fan I was able to join in straight away. And that was very well received within the band.”

In the second season you were stuck there .

“For about half the shows. Due to corona, dates have been shifted enormously, causing singer Linda Caminita to end up with double bookings. That’s why I partly replaced it, with great pleasure. That’s how I got involved.”

As an ABBA fan you are in the right place, I think.

“That’s how it feels. But I didn’t want to push myself forward, because it’s our own production. I’m the last one to say: I’ll fill in or I’ll join in. But when the band asks: why don’t you do it? Well, very much so. It is very nice to play with such top musicians.”

What do you think is ABBA’s strength?

“For me personally it started with the voices of Agnetha and Anni-Frid. Sometimes they cut through your soul and at other times they are very soft, velvety. And then the fantastic melodies and all those layers in the music. You keep discovering things in it. The great choirs, the variation in styles. Björn and Benny are fantastic composers, a kind of Beethoven and Bach of pop music.”

Nowadays that opinion is widely shared, even among sour music journalists. In the past, ABBA was at most a ‘guilty pleasure’.

“Yes, I also remember that my love for ABBA was temporarily interrupted by U2, the Simple Minds and the whole new wave period. But later you saw Bono say in an interview how much he loved ABBA, and more and more artists dared to say so. Appreciation has increased enormously.”

Have you visited ABBA’s hologram concert in London yet?

,,Man! It’s really amazing what you experience there. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. When someone else said that to me, I was like, yeah, yeah, whatever. But you’re constantly surprised and you just forget that it’s not real. You try to look at them from the side, from behind. You feel like they are just three-dimensional people standing there.”

Nothing can beat the real thing, of course. You will soon play twice, completely live, in Ahoy.

“Yes, that’s great! My colleagues Mandy (Huydts, ed.) and Monique (van der Ster, ed.) have already performed there in René Froger’s backing choir, but that was on a round stage in the middle. We have the normal setup with a stage at the end of the room. With beautiful visuals on four huge LED screens, on which you can also follow the band members. It will be really spectacular and – although I hate that word – a party!”