The Bilbao Blues Festival returns to the city from 24 to 26 July with a programme of free events for all audiences. On its fifth anniversary, the festival will recognise the career of the Bizkaia band Travellin’ Brothers, winners of the 2015 European Blues Challenge in Brussels (best European band) and finalists in the 2015 International Blues Challenge in Memphis (the 8 best in the world). They have been the backing band on tours and special concerts for artists of the stature of Ian Siegal, Sugaray Rayford, Andy J. Forest, Earl Thomas, Raphael Wresnig, J.T. Lauritsen, Antonio Serrano, Julian Maeso, Alex Schultz, Henry Grey, Ina Forsman, Diego Galaz…
“They are a pioneering band, one of the first of their kind in the Basque Country, and they have never changed their line-up. Now they have also become the first Basque band to win the ‘txapela’. I am particularly excited that they are receiving this award because our careers have run parallel, we have grown personally and professionally hand in hand,” emphasises Carlos Malles, director of the festival.
El Arenal will continue to be the main venue for the festival, where this year the large-scale concerts will be reserved for Friday and Saturday. As usual, the Kiosko will host several performances in the mornings. On 26 July, the same venue will host the third edition of the national Volotea Blues Challenge, in which the four best bands on the current scene will compete for a place in the European Blues Challenge, one of the most important international events in this musical genre.
Kontxi Claver, Councillor for Economic Development, Trade, Employment and Tourism at Bilbao City Council, said, “We are hosting a new edition of this important festival, which has made us an international benchmark in the blues genre. On this occasion, we are giving special recognition to Travellin’ Brothers, a well-deserved distinction that further raises the excellent standard of the Bilbao Blues Festival.”
TOURS THROUGHOUT EUROPE AND THE USA
Travellin’ Brothers, with more than 1,300 concerts and 11 albums under their belt, have played in clubs and venues across Europe, and on their tours of the US they have taken their music to legendary venues such as the BMC or the Bluenile on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans, or the BB King Club, 152 Club, New Daisy Theatre on the legendary Beale Street in Memphis, the great Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, and Reds Juke Joint in Clarksdale, Mississippi. They have also played in clubs and venues in Texas, such as the Continental Club in Houston, the Red Brick Tavern in Conroe, and the Green Oaks Tavern.
A BLUESMAN WHO PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE SHIPYARDS
The poster for the 5th Bilbao Blues Festival “aims to capture the transformation of Bilbao and its inhabitants. The background contrasts the industrial memory of the Carola Crane with the icons of the new city of services and culture that it is today: the Iberdrola Tower and the Euskalduna,” says its author, Sergio Pérez Berasategi. In the foreground, a bluesman playing the harmonica “pays tribute to the shipyards and their working-class past. This figure connects the physical effort that gave rise to the blues genre with the work of those who labourd to build the city as we know it today,” he adds.
This design, faithful to the retro graphic style of other editions, reflects the usual colour palette “to give continuity to the festival’s image”. “The use of worn textures and typographies reinforces a visual identity that we consider to be well established,” emphasises Pérez Berasategui.
AN INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED ORGANISATION
The festival’s promoter, Crazy Blues, has received the highest international awards for promoting this musical genre: the BBSA Award for Best Promoter (Blues Behind the Scenes Award) granted by the European Blues Union in the Azores in 2019 and the K.B.A. Award for Best Organisation of an International Festival (Keeping the Blues Alive), the highest global recognition, granted in 2015 by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.