Festivals Receive KBA

Festivals Receive KBA

This year, The Blues Foundation awarded the Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) Award to two international festivals that are exceptional in supporting the blues. From Columbia to Poland, the blues is thriving worldwide – thanks, in part, to the efforts and passion of the Cali Blues & Folk Festival and the Jimiway Blues Festival.

Colombian musician Carlos Reyes (rt) leads a blues masterclass at the Cali Blues & Folk Festival. Photo courtesy of the Cali Blues & Folk Festival

Cali Blues & Folk Festival

A Stepping Stone for Cultural Exchange Cali, Colombia

Cali, Colombia, traditionally known as the world capital of salsa, carries a historical musical tradition with deep African roots, easily found in the city’s food, diverse community and openness to visitors. It was only natural that it become home to one of the most important blues festivals in Latin America. Each September, the Cali Blues & Folk Festival takes hold of Cali and up to nine other cities in Colombia with a week-long celebration of concerts and educational activities that promote blues music, its history and its culture as a genre that is very much alive outside the United States.

Festival programming showcases live performances and educational events (conferences, masterclasses and workshops) with musicians, artists and scholars from the U.S., Colombia and around the world. The festival also offers diverse thematically curated content such as library events and film screenings, reaching an increasingly diverse audience.

The Cali Blues & Folk Festival is a multi-venue, nonprofit event organized by the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano, a binational organization whose mission focuses on creating transformative experiences for the community through teaching English and promoting cultural dialogue with the United States. With this mission in mind, the Cali Blues & Folk Festival serves as a platform for exceptionally talented artists from Colombia and the U.S. to showcase their distinctive styles of music.

The festival’s multi-city tour has made it possible for Colombian, as well as international, performers to build new audiences around the country. Keeping true to this purpose, the Festival helped create the Colombian Blues Society in 2013, an organization recognized by The Blues Foundation, and which promotes the Colombian blues music scene.

For over a decade, the festival has been an important platform for artists to reach audiences throughout Colombia, enabling exposure to each city’s different characteristics and traditional music. Each city within the tour becomes a stage for experimentation, exchange of knowledge and transformation for the participant artists and audiences.

The Cali Blues & Folk Festival has been strengthened through networking with local, national, international, public and private cultural and educational institutions. Festival partners and sponsors have included the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, Colombian Ministry of Culture, the national network of binational centers, local governments, universities and cultural centers.

The Cali Blues & Folk Festival was honored with the 2020 Keeping the Blues Alive Award, becoming the first Latin American organization to receive the award. The organization’s Cultural Director, Michael Cadena, accepted the award at the ceremony in Memphis, TN.

This year the Cali Blues & Folk Festival will take place September 21-30, 2020. For more information, please visit www.colomboamericano.edu.co/programa-especial/bluesand-folk-festival

Jimiway Blues Festival Spreading Love for the Blues Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland

Out of passion for the blues, the Jimiway Blues Festival in Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland, was founded in 1994 by father and son team, Benedykt Kunicki and Oskar Kunicki. Named in tribute to legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix, it has become tradition to open the festival with Hendrix’s anthem “Who Knows,” getting the crowd excited for the two-day event held each October. The festival, which is attended by 1,400 fans each year and often

Lucky Peterson plays to the crowd of the Jimiway Blues Festival in Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland. Photo courtesy of the Jimiway Blues Festival

sells out within a half hour of opening ticket sales, is held in the beautiful hall of Ostrowskie Centrum Kultury. The Jimiway Blues Festival prides itself on presenting a diverse variety of blues music styles, and has become a destination for blues lovers in Poland and worldwide.

Jimiway’s lineups boast a broad spectrum of the blues genre. The festival is proud to present the best Polish blues artists –veterans such as Tadeusz Nalepa, Dzem, Easy Rider, Irek Dudek, Sławek Wierzcholski & Nocna Zmiana Bluesa, Leszek Winder and Jan “Kyks” Skrzek, as well as talented representatives of the younger generation, like JJ Band, Blues Doctors, Magda Piskorczyk, HooDoo Band and the Boogie Boys. Over the years, as the festival has gained international recognition and importance, it has also attracted renowned American artists including Sugaray Rayford, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Kenny Neal, Joe Louis Walker, John Németh, Curtis Salgado, Nick Moss, Coco Montoya, Tommy Castro, Toronzo Cannon, Mr. Sipp, Lucky Peterson and Albert Cummings.

In addition to the artistic forces on stage, there is also an acoustic blues scene, jam sessions and music photo exhibits. The Jimiway Blues Festival not only brings the diversity of the blues genre to Poland, but aims to reach out to young fans and fuel the hope for a generational transfer of the blues tradition. Festival attendees come from all walks of life and range from grandparents to small children – all joining together in celebration and adoration of the blues. Through its efforts for over 25 years, the Jimiway Blues Festival is keeping the blues alive and well in Poland. It has been recognized by The Blues Foundation with the 2020 Keeping the Blues Alive Award and Benedykt and Oskar Kunicki accepted the award in Memphis.

This year’s festival will be held October 16-17, 2020. For more information about the Jimiway Blues Festival, visit Jimiway.pl and Facebook.com/JimiwayBluesFestival