Page 50 - Akae Beka

Festivals Receive kBa

This year, The Blues Foundation awarded the Keeping the Blues Alive
(KBA) Award to two international festivals that are exceptional in
supporting the blues. From Columbia to Poland, the blues is thriving

worldwide – thanks, in part, to the efforts and passion of the Cali Blues
& Folk Festival and the Jimiway Blues Festival.

English and promoting cultural dialogue with the United States.
With this mission in mind, the Cali Blues & Folk Festival serves as
a platform for exceptionally talented artists from Colombia and
the U.S. to showcase their distinctive styles of music.
The festival’s multi-city tour has made it possible for
Colombian, as well as international, performers to build new
audiences around the country. Keeping true to this purpose, the
Festival helped create the Colombian Blues Society in 2013, an
organization recognized by The Blues Foundation, and which
promotes the Colombian blues music scene.
For over a decade, the festival has been an important
platform for artists to reach audiences throughout Colombia,
enabling exposure to each city’s different characteristics and
traditional music. Each city within the tour becomes a stage for
experimentation, exchange of knowledge and transformation for
Colombian musician Carlos Reyes (rt) leads a blues masterclass at the Cali Blues & the participant artists and audiences.
Folk Festival. Photo courtesy of the Cali Blues & Folk Festival
The Cali Blues & Folk Festival has been strengthened through
Cali Blues & Folk Festival networking with local, national, international, public and
private cultural and educational institutions. Festival partners
A Stepping Stone for Cultural Exchange and sponsors have included the U.S. Embassy in Colombia,
Cali, Colombia Colombian Ministry of Culture, the national network of binational
Cali, Colombia, traditionally known as the world capital of centers, local governments, universities and cultural centers.
salsa, carries a historical musical tradition with deep African The Cali Blues & Folk Festival was honored with the 2020
roots, easily found in the city’s food, diverse community and Keeping the Blues Alive Award, becoming the first Latin American
openness to visitors. It was only natural that it become home to organization to receive the award. The organization’s Cultural
one of the most important blues festivals in Latin America. Each Director, Michael Cadena, accepted the award at the ceremony
September, the Cali Blues & Folk Festival takes hold of Cali and in Memphis, TN.
up to nine other cities in Colombia with a week-long celebration This year the Cali Blues & Folk Festival will take place
of concerts and educational activities that promote blues music, September 21-30, 2020. For more information, please visit
its history and its culture as a genre that is very much alive outside www.colomboamericano.edu.co/programa-especial/blues-
the United States. and-folk-festival
Festival programming showcases live performances and Jimiway Blues Festival
educational events (conferences, masterclasses and workshops) Spreading Love for the Blues
with musicians, artists and scholars from the U.S., Colombia and Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland
around the world. The festival also offers diverse thematically Out of passion for the blues, the Jimiway Blues Festival in
curated content such as library events and film screenings, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland, was founded in 1994 by father
reaching an increasingly diverse audience. and son team, Benedykt Kunicki and Oskar Kunicki. Named in
The Cali Blues & Folk Festival is a multi-venue, nonprofit tribute to legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix, it has become tradition to
event organized by the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano, open the festival with Hendrix’s anthem “Who Knows,” getting
a binational organization whose mission focuses on creating the crowd excited for the two-day event held each October. The
transformative experiences for the community through teaching festival, which is attended by 1,400 fans each year and often

48 Blues Festival Guide 2020