{"id":33129,"date":"2025-04-29T12:21:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T10:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/?p=33129"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T08:22:14","slug":"bilbao-will-host-for-the-second-consecutive-year-the-final-of-the-state-blues-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/bilbao-will-host-for-the-second-consecutive-year-the-final-of-the-state-blues-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilbao will host for the second consecutive year the final of the state Blues Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Next July and as part of the fourth edition of Bilbao Blues Festival, Bilbao will again witness the final of the state <strong>Volotea Blues Challenge<\/strong>. The four best bands of the current scene will compete for a place in the European Blues Challenge, one of the most important international events of this musical genre. \u201cBack to host this important event reaffirms the status of Bilbao as an international benchmark of Blues,\u201d celebrates <strong>Carlos Malles, festival director.<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img data-dominant-color=\"6b5e6f\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #6b5e6f;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/V3A3034-jpg.avif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32061 size-full not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/V3A3034-jpg.avif 800w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/V3A3034-768x512.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/V3A3034-480x320.avif 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>The <strong>registration period will open on Monday, May 12 and will end on June 6<\/strong>. To apply, it is essential to fill in <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/ebu-spain\/challenge-2026\/formulario\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>this form<\/strong><\/a>. The names of the selected bands will be announced on the 23rd of the same month. The winning band <strong>will participate in the European Blues Challenge 2026<\/strong>, one of the most prestigious international competitions of this genre.<\/p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"height:42px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>The festival, promoted by the <strong>Bilbao City Council<\/strong>, will be held <strong>from July 25 to 27<\/strong> with a free program with top level concerts, which will take place in the Arenal.\u00a0 The Challege will serve as an appetizer, as it will be held on the eve of the start of the event, on July 24.<\/p><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:28px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-50 has-custom-font-size is-style-outline has-medium-font-size is-style-outline--1\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-black-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/ebu-spain\/challenge-2026\/formulario\" style=\"border-radius:16px;background-color:#61b28d;box-shadow:var(--wp--preset--shadow--crisp)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>REGISTRATION FORM<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-50 has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-black-background-color has-background has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2526-BASES-PARA-OPTAR-A-SER-LASLOS-CANDIDATASOS-ESPANOLES-DEL-EUROPEAN-BLUES-CHALLENGE.pdf\" style=\"border-radius:16px;box-shadow:var(--wp--preset--shadow--outlined)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><strong>PARTICIPATION RULES<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div style=\"height:42px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong>A MASTER OF CLASSIC ROCK AND ROLL COMPLETES THE POSTER<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-51b37d75716d37e76f61d55fac5a3da2 wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#d7b986\"><p>On the other hand, Bilbao Blues Festival completes its line-up with the incorporation of \u00a0Alfonso Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aldual.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Al Dual<\/strong><\/a>, who is considered <strong>a master of classic rock and roll<\/strong>.\u00a0 This musician from Murcia faithfully reproduces the sounds of American music from the 50s and 60s, a virtue that has established him as one of the most prestigious names on the international rockabilly scene. He is a versatile and talented guitarist as well as an exceptional vocalist, who brilliantly fuses this genre with others such as country or blues.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:11px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Throughout his career he has performed in prestigious stages and halls in the United States and Europe and can boast of being part of the <strong>Nashville Rockabilly Hall of Fame since 2018<\/strong>. He has been awarded at the Ameripolitan Music Awards as best international male soloist (2018), at the Premios de la M\u00fasica de Espa\u00f1a (2018) and at the Premios F\u00e9nix (2019). Likewise, he is \u201cendoser\u201d and ambassador of the Gretsch guitar brand, a recognition reserved for the masters of this instrument.<\/p><\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img data-dominant-color=\"491a0d\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #491a0d;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/aldual_web-1-jpg.avif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-33120 size-full not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/aldual_web-1-jpg.avif 600w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/aldual_web-1-480x640.avif 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"height:61px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-black-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-2f87e2e160bd695b1ddc28246fd5571e\"><strong>PARALLEL ACTIVITIES:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\"><strong>EDUCATIONAL CONCERT AT GUGGENHEIM BILBAO AND BOOGIE-WOOGIE CLASSES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>The <strong>Bilbao Guggenheim Museum<\/strong> will also offer on Friday <strong>25 free pedagogical concerts for children<\/strong>, as part of its TopARTE program. The duo Diablues ta Bluezifer together with Basque Televission (EiTB) presenter<strong> Oihan Vega and double bass player Nagore Sanz<\/strong> will participate in this didactic activity.<\/p><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img data-dominant-color=\"898385\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #898385;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/BBF24_28072024_david_herranz_54A5131-jpg.avif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32185 size-full not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/BBF24_28072024_david_herranz_54A5131-jpg.avif 800w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/BBF24_28072024_david_herranz_54A5131-768x512.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/BBF24_28072024_david_herranz_54A5131-480x320.avif 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This band formed by Mikel Etxeberria (oral sound, guitar and vocals) and Asier Elorza (Voice, guitar, dobro and trumpet), two musicians from Bergara united since 2014 by their passion for acoustic blues, will offer unusual sounds with special melodies and instruments: vocal games, dobro and trumpet.&#13;\n&#13;\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Sunday morning will also see the return of the<strong> successful free<\/strong> b<strong>oogie-woogie classes at the Arenal<\/strong>, open to the participation of all audiences, with or without dance experience. Fun and dynamic, the boogie-woogie sessions, which share movements with swing, attracted a large number of people in the last edition. They are taught by <strong>Carlos Etxebarria, from the Portugalete Swing Dance School. <\/strong><\/p> <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"17252b\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"760\" height=\"387\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/LogoEBUWithWebsiteBlack-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-30316 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #17252b; width:206px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/LogoEBUWithWebsiteBlack-jpg.webp 760w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/LogoEBUWithWebsiteBlack-480x244.webp 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 760px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull\"><img data-dominant-color=\"fae9ed\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #fae9ed;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/volotea_destacada-jpg.avif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-33126 not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/volotea_destacada-jpg.avif 800w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/volotea_destacada-768x576.avif 768w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/volotea_destacada-510x382.avif 510w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/volotea_destacada-480x360.avif 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img data-dominant-color=\"404040\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #404040;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"154\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/LogoSBB1-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-30313 not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/LogoSBB1-jpg.webp 500w, https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/LogoSBB1-480x148.webp 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 500px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Next July and as part of the fourth edition of Bilbao Blues Festival, Bilbao will again witness the final of the state Volotea Blues Challenge. The four best bands of the current scene will compete for a place in the European Blues Challenge, one of the most important international events of this musical genre. \u201cBack [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":31965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[158,146,162,85],"tags":[185,183,184],"class_list":["post-33129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues-challenge-en","category-featured","category-iv-edition-bbf-2025","category-news","tag-bbf-2025-en","tag-bilbao-blues-festival-en","tag-volotea-blues-challenge-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33129"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33275,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33129\/revisions\/33275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bilbaobluesfestival.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}