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BLUES & SOUL FESTIVAL
Skopje 2005
04. i 05.07.2005. |
Skopje Blues & Soul Festival 2005
Skopje Blues & Soul Festival has already established its
existence as one of the best in this part of Europe for the last nine years.
Some of the participants so far included Michael Hill’s Blues Mob, David Honeyboy
Edwards, Lucky Peterson, Louisiana Red, Eric Sardinas, Temptations, U.P. Wilson,
Mick Taylor, C.J. Chenier & Louisiana Red Hot Band, Tony Vega Band, Phil
Guy, Ronny Jordan, Mighty Sam McClain, Bernard Allison, Melvin Taylor &
The Slack Band... from USA, great British blues artists like Mick Taylor (ex-Rolling
Stones), Todd Sharpville... and a number of fine European acts.
This year’s edition of the festival, ninth in the row, has
once again proven itself as a quality music event which is already on the map
of respected European blues festivals. Two nights (July 4, 5) with four participants
offered plenty of enjoyment to local blues fans and music lovers in general.
Blues has found its fertile soil in this part of Europe and probably Javier
Vargas put it the best by saying that this is "Mississippi of Europe"!
No cotton pickers, tobacco producers maybe and pure, honest blues sounds and
entertainment was the order of the day!
Music emphasis was on contemporary European blues scene which
has a lot to offer, as blues lovers were able to witness in two hot July nights.
Blues is now regarded as widely accepted and influential music form and has
since established itself on the old continent. Raw Hide (Serbia and Montenegro),
Vargas Blues Band (Spain), Coen Wolters Band (Holland) and Nine Below Zero (UK)
played their hearts out, presenting different approaches to the idiom and audience
could feel that and rewarded all bands with great anticipation.
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(Raw Hide - Serbia & Montenegro)
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(Raw Hide - Serbia & Montenegro)
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Raw Hide opened the proceedings on July 4th with their jumpy
version of classic Chicago blues of the fifties. These Serbian guys are class
act in their own, honing their craft together for more than twenty years and
it showed perfectly in their performance. Frontman Jovan Ilic did some great
harmonica work while leading his band through a set of carefully chosen blues
standards which gave plenty of opportunities to strecth out. With fine assistance
of dual guitar work by brothers Stanosevic and tight rhythm section, Raw Hide
were on the right track with audience all the way.
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(Vargas Blues Band - Spain)
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(Vargas Blues Band - Spain) |
Headliners of the evening were Vargas Blues Band from Spain
who offered their brand of blues spiced with some Spanish traditional music
elements. They played tracks from their latest album "Love, Union, Peace"
plus some of their favourites from past releases which were instant crowd pleasers.
Special surprise was inclusion of young vocalist Devon Allman, son of great
Gregg Allman (Allman Brothers)! His vocals were absolutely great, reminding
us at times of his father and he will definitely go places! Javier Vargas is
world class guitar player who played with almost anybody who’s anybody in the
business (Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Buddy Guy...) and he easily confirmed all
attributes written about him in recent years. Blues fans loved every minute
of Vargas Blues Band performance and asked for an encore which included stuff
by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Cream, what a fine ending to a first night of the
festival!
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(Coen Woltes Band - Holland)
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(Coen Woltes Band - Holland)
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Coen Wolters Band from Holland opened the next, closing night
of the festival with their slice of heavy bluesrock which went down excellent.
Inspired by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and alike, Coen and
his fellow musicians presented their brand of blues which is quite popular on
contemporary blues scene. Coen Wolters is an excellent guitarist who pays tribute
to his influences while being his own voice at the same time, something which
is rather rare thing these days. His style is full of passion and verve, never
trying to go over the top with flashy guitar work, although capable of shooting
out an array of notes at any given moment, but doing it with control and feeling
for the music he plays. He did stuff from his latest album "Broken Glass",
plus some great covers, my personal favourite track was slow blues "Dance
On The Moon". My prediction is that Coen Wolters Band will soon be familiar
name on European blues scene and can only hope to see this band soon in this
part of Europe again.
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(Nine Below Zero - UK)
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(Nine Below Zero - UK)
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This year’s festival was closed by the legendary Nine Below
Zero from England and what a finish it was! Long regarded as one of the finest
exponents of British R&B, successors of the sixties bands like Pretty Things,
Yardbirds, Them, Paramounts, Artwoods and others, Nine Below did their blistering
set of originals and covers and made local fans dancing in the aisles all the
way and you could not expect less from these lads, having in mind their musical
pedigree. Brendan O’Neill and Gerry McAvoy used to keep the right rhythm behind
Rory Gallagher for many years, while guitarist Dennis Greaves is considered
as one of the best Britain has to offer and Mark Feltham on harmonica is a player
par exellence! I’ve seen many fine artists on this stage and throughout Europe
and Nine Below Zero are one of the best so far and most of the audience would
not argue with that. This band closed festival proceedings in style and we are
already looking for 10th Anniversary festival next year which should be even
bigger event than this one!
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