- American Folk Blues Festival
The American Folk Blues Festival (also American Folk-Blues Festival, and AFBF) was a
music festival that touredEurope beginning in 1962.German
jazz publicistJoachim-Ernst Berendt first had the idea of bringing originalAfrican-American blues performers to Europe. Jazz had become very popular, androck and roll was just gaining a foothold, and both genres drew influences directly back to the blues. Berendt thought that European audiences would flock toconcert hall s to see them in person.Promoters
Horst Lippmann andFritz Rau would bring this idea to reality. By contactingWillie Dixon , an influential bluescomposer and bassist fromChicago , they were given access to the blues culture of the deep South. The first festival was held in 1962, and they continued almost annually until 1972, after an eight year hiatus reviving the festival in 1980 until its final performance in 1985.Blues musicians who performed include
Muddy Waters ,Sonny Boy Williamson ,Howlin' Wolf ,Lonnie Johnson ,Son House ,Big Joe Williams ,Sonny Terry ,Brownie McGhee ,John Lee Hooker ,Skip James ,Sleepy John Estes ,Little Brother Montgomery ,Victoria Spivey ,Sippie Wallace ,Fred McDowell ,J. B. Lenoir ,Little Walter ,Louisiana Red ,T-Bone Walker ,Lightnin' Hopkins ,Joe Turner ,Buddy Guy ,Otis Rush ,Memphis Slim ,Magic Sam and Willie Dixon. Many of the concerts were released on a long-running annual series of records, which was collated again for release in the 1990s.Attendees of the first London festivals are believed to include such influential musicians as
Mick Jagger ,Eric Burdon ,Eric Clapton , andSteve Winwood , who were the primary movers in the blues explosion that would lead to theBritish Invasion .Sites where the festival was held included London, Hamburg, Paris, and others.
Discography
Official:
* "American Folk Blues Festival, 1962-1968 "
* "The Lost Blues Tapes " (1993)
* "Blues Giants "Bootleg:
* "Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man " (Laserlight Fake)External links
* [http://www.wirz.de/music/afbf.htm American Folk Blues Festival discography]
* [http://www.actmusic.com/act6000_e.htm Lost Blues Tapes/More AFBF 1963]
* [http://www.bootlegzone.com/album.php?name=MW-HCM-1 Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man (Laserlight Fake)]
* [http://www.oraclesmusic.com/Review_50_Lost_Blues_Tapes.php Review of "Lost Blues Tapes/More American Folk Blues Festival 1963-65"]
* [http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/scripts/media_view.pl?id=309&type=Articles Review article by Graeme Hobbs]
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