Kultura / Culture
Sweet home Chicago The Chicago Blues Festival has been held annually since 1984, marking the anniversary of the death of Muddy Waters and serving to celebrate and preserve the legendary Chicago blues style from oblivion All that Blues
come 45 performances and more than 250 artists celebrating the city’s renowned Blues legacy. This year’s headliners include four-time Grammy winners Los Lobos, Blind Boys of Alabama with Bobby Rush, Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Mud Morganfield, John Primer & The Re- al Deal Blues Band, and many more. But there is also the club Bud- dy Guy’s Legends, one of Chicago’s true cultural landmarks, that pro- vides every guest with an authentic taste of Chicago blues. Chicago’s pre- mier blues club, owned by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Buddy Guy him- self, has been booking some of the best local and national blues bands for 20 years. Prior to his death in 1983, Muddy Waters made Buddy promise to keep Blues alive. Guy says that Leg- ends is part of keeping that promise. Legends is also a restaurant serv- ing soul food that including gum- bo, jambalaya, chicken and ribs. The walls of this club are adorned with some items from Buddy’s personal collection, turning it into a minia- ture blues museum. In one of the best Blues clubs in the world, you can even catch Buddy from time to time, and, yes, enjoy his music.
C hicago blues is a form of blues music that devel- oped in the Wind city. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as the Del- ta blues, but is performed in an ur- ban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the 20 th century. Key characteristics that distinguish Chicago blues from earlier traditions include the prom- inent use of electric guitars, and es- pecially the use of effects like distor- tion and overdrive. Muddy Waters migrated to Chicago in 1943, joining estab- lished artist Big Bill Broonzy, and together they developed a distinc- tive style of blues music. They were joined by the likes of Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker,
and by the late 1950s and early ‘60s Chicago Blues had reached an inter- national audience and had a direct influence not only on the develop- ment of early rock & roll musicians like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, but also reached across the Atlantic to influence the likes of Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and many others... The Chicago Blues Festival has been held annually since 1984, on the anniversary of Muddy Waters death, as a part of efforts aimed at preserving and promoting Chicago Blues. The world’s largest free Blues festival returns to Chicago with four days of top tier talent performing in the city’s Millennium Park. From 8 th to 11 th June, three stages set up across Millennium Park will wel-
44 | Bluz » Blues
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator