A festival to be enjoyed by all!
In 2024 October 11-12 the second international city blues festival "Kaunas Blues" will take place: concerts by world-famous artists in the Kaunas sports hall, night jam sessions and a free daytime part in the station area.
Diving between different blues styles, the festival presents the traditions and diversity of this genre and spreads the blues spirit. Born from an unwritten musical tradition in the 19th century, the blues branched into various subgenres over time, adapted and did not lose its importance and relevance. It’s influence on other genres of music continues to inspire not only African-Americans, but many young people around the world.
Bliuzas jungia!
During times of oppression, the blues was created as a mean of communication, an expression of community and solidarity. Non-political blues is an authentic expression of human feelings, pain, love, pleasure and anger. It encodes the very essence of humanity and the recognition that basic human experiences are universal.
Blues connects!
EVENING CONCERTS IN KAUNAS SPORTS HALL
October 11 | doors 6 pm | start 7 pm | Kaunas sports hall
Othman Wahabi (Canada/Morocco)
JJ Thames and Crystal Thomas (USA)
October 12 | doors 6 pm | start 7 pm | Kaunas sports hall
Baba Sissoko and Mediterranean Blues (Italy/Mali)
Walter Trout (USA)
When buying 4 or more tickets, a 25% discount applies to the baske
Ticket for both days - 20% applies to both days when buying
A 20% discount applies to seniors, students and schoolchildren
Choose the most suitable hotel near the festival and spend October 11/12 in Kaunas with the blues!
A blues bus will take you from Vilnius to Kaunas Blues and bring you back
For festival guests traveling from the capital to the evening program, we offer a comfortable and fun trip on a blues bus going to the Kaunas sports hall and back.
The daytime program will include a blues train on the Vilnius-Kaunas route, in which live music will set the mood of the festival.
OTHMAN WAHABI (Canada/Morocco)
The really amazing and intriguing thing about Othman Wahabi is that in 1983 he was born in Morocco, at the age of 22 he didn't even come to the USA, but to Canada, but his music sounds like an authentic, strongly felt fruit of the blues tradition. One that seems more heavily influenced by archaic acoustic blues than its later modern variations. Perhaps the fact that Othman Wahabi absorbed the musical vibrations of West Africa, which seem to have a deep subconscious connection with American blues and especially its early version, led to this nature of his work. One that has a very strong foundation of early blues. On the other hand, O. Wahabi allows other stylistics around that foundation - funk, soul, even reggae.
Othman is the owner of an extremely rich voice, great slide guitar master, convincing both alone and with full bands. The artist pays a lot of attention to the lyrics (which also connects him with the early blues, after all, in it the text, the story sung by a person had a special meaning), in which the themes of spirituality, attention to social justice, and pain due to racism and other misfortunes and injustices are revealed.
O. Wahabi's new album called "Racines" comes out on February 1st, and it's all this, and new current things, and connections between Africa and the blues. So, get ready for fresh, relevant and deep-dive modern blues! This is exactly what comes from O. Wahabi.
2024 m. vasarį pasirodė naujas O. Wahabi albumas, pavadintas „Racines“, kuriame ir visa tai, ir nauji aktualūs dalykai, ir jungtys tarp Afrikos ir bliuzo. Tad pasiruoškite šviežiam, aktualiam ir į gelmes neriančiam šiuolaikiniam bliuzui! Būtent toks ir sklinda iš O. Wahabi.
Performers:
Othman Wahabi - guitars, vocals
Jay Golden - bass guitar
Ranul da Silva – drums
JJ THAMES & CRYSTAL THOMAS (USA)
Big Mama Blues
What's a blues festival without blues divas? What's a blues festival that doesn't carry on the tradition of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Etta James and countless other fiery and hyper talented blues ladies? JJ Thames and Crystal Thomas will fill this niche in their duet called Big Mama Blues. Two impressive vocalists, whose voices absorb both diverse personal experiences and echoes of Mississippi, Chicago and other musical centers of the USA.
JJ Thames, sometimes referred to as the "Mississippi Diva", hails from the cradle of soul music in Detroit and is heavily influenced by the style, tempered by her own complicated life, painful losses and long climb to her current success. Her performances are stormy, her charisma is amazing, her voice is like a blow, in which you can feel love, strength, rage, and pain.
Crystal Thomas is the owner of an impressive, particularly rich voice who has adopted another deep blues tradition, lived through it and broadcasts it to new listeners. Having started singing at the age of two, growing up in a particularly musical family, surrounded by music, she later became a professional trombonist. When Crystal sings, she radiates power, confidence, self-confidence and shows everyone how to enjoy the moment; after all, the blues in general is largely about the ability to surrender to the joy of the moment.
Performers:
JJ Thames - vocals
Crystal Thomas - vocals
Luca Giordano - guitar, vocals
Abramo Riti - keyboards
Walter Monini - bass guitar
Fabio Colella – drums
BABA SISSOKO AND THE MEDITERRANEAN BLUES (ITALY/MALI)
Mali's music ambassador Baba Sissoko, who has played with Sting, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Youssou N'Dour, Buena Vista Social Club, Dee Dee Bridgewater, is really well known to the Lithuanian audience. Back in 2012 together with Viktor Diawara, Laurita Peleniutes, Saulius Petreikis, Indre Jurgelevičiūtes, he recorded the album "MaLituanie" combining the musical traditions of Mali and Lithuania. An excellent vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who plays the West African "talking drums" tamani and many other instruments (ngoni, guitar, drums, balafon, calebash, sildrum, kamelngoni), he is also distinguished as a builder of many other musical bridges. Great examples - 2017 his album "Griot Blues" with Mighty Mo Rodgers, as if returning the blues to its roots and at the same time refreshing it with Malian spices, or "Khalab & Baba" recorded with DJ Khalab, which intertwines ethnic African music and electronica.
What is unique about Baba Sissoko is that he comes from the West African griot tradition. Griots are wandering musicians, storytellers and keepers of oral traditions. It is a title and duty that is inherited through the male family line and still exists in this region.
This time, Baba Sissoko will be heard together with the very colorful band "Mediterranean Blues", so the listeners will have a great opportunity to hear how African motifs combine with the fiery Italian spirit, funk, rock and many other unpredictable elements.
Performers:
Baba Sissoko - vocals, ngoni, talking drum
Ady Thioune - djembe, bougaroubu, congas, vocals
Eric Cisbani - drums
Angelo Napoli - electric guitar
Walter Monini - bass guitar, backing vocals
Alessandro de Marino – clarinet, keyboards
Domenico Canale – accordion, violin, vocals
WALTER TROUT (USA)
How often will we hear a bluesman in Lithuania who played with blues legends John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton? And who next to that was the lead guitarist of the legendary Woodstock-inspired band Canned Heat for three years? As if that was not enough, the same bluesman passed through the famous blues forge "John Mayall's Bluesbreakers", where Eric Clapton and Peter Green became famous in their time. Yes, these are all the details and milestones of Walter Trout's musical biography. And, as if that weren't enough, he has a solid solo career on top of it all. Her first imprint was her debut album Life in the Jungle, released in 1989 and often considered one of the best in the blues rock genre.
An impressive guitarist who perfectly combines virtuosity and sensuality, an excellent songwriter and vocalist, W. Trout is one of the standard bearers of the classic American blues rock sound. A sound that, although lyrical, exudes optimism (Walter himself emphasizes the tendency towards light in his work) and in which a long, expressive and telling guitar solo is often in the center.
The new album also features guest stars from vocalist Beth Hart, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider and harmonica virtuoso Will Wilde. The guitarist says that it is extremely important for him to feel his own growth and progress as a musician. So, W. Trout is not only a blues rock legend and icon, but also a musician who never stops searching and challenging himself.
Naujame albume taip pat galima išgirsti kviestines žvaigždes – vokalistę Beth Hart, grupės „Twisted Sister“ balsą Dee Snider ir lūpinės armonikėlės virtuozą Will Wilde. Gitaristas teigia, kad jam itin svarbu jausti savo paties kaip muzikanto augimą ir ėjimą į priekį. Taigi, W. Troutas yra ne tik bliuzroko legenda ir ikona, bet ir muzikantas, kuris nesiliauja ieškoti ir mesti sau iššūkių.
Performers:
Walter Trout - guitar, vocals
John Avila - bass guitar
Michael Leasure - drums
Roland Bakker – keys
The festival is financed by Kaunas city municipality
