The Catalan music scene has had close links for years with the whole set of music with Afro-American roots, what we conventionally call black music. To cite just a few examples, the jazz scene in Catalonia has a great centuries-old tradition and is still in good health today despite being forgotten by the general public. And there is no need to talk about the enormous success that Jamaican music has had here: Catalonia is probably one of the most powerful scenes of these genres – it is not an exaggeration – on the whole continent.
Collecting these ties, two decades ago the idea arose to gather all these styles, from blues to hip-hop, in a single contest. This is how the Black Music Festival was born in Salt, heir to the old Blues Festival of the Girona town. It started as a modest cycle that relied a high percentage of the bill on the rich Catalan scene, although that 2003 already brought a whole blues totem such as the long-lost Johnny Winter. Since then, this has been the focus: betting on local musicians and bands and importing a handful of international figures to give it prestige.
A good proof of this growth is that the cycle, in this 23rd edition, has already crossed Girona’s borders: just yesterday the Scary Pockets project, known for their soul-funk versions of pop classics broadcast on YouTube, inaugurate the festival at the Apolo hall in Barcelona. In any case, an anecdotal incursion because the Girona lands will continue to be the epicenter of the BMF until March 24.
This year, the absolute headliner is Dee Dee Bridgewater, one of the most important jazz voices of the last 50 years. It will be the first time for the US performer in the city of Girona, despite having been a regular at the Barcelona and summer festivals on the Costa Brava. He will be accompanied by the local Girona Jazz Project Big Band and will present his New Orleans repertoire on March 9. From the international scene, New Yorker Catherine Russell (8/III), for many years a multi-instrumentalist in David Bowie’s band and currently one of the great vocalists of roots rhythm’n’blues, also stands out.
Also, a special mention for the Senegalese cousins ??Seckou Keita and Momi Maiga, who will import a morsel of West African tradition with the sound of their kores (17/II), the forceful blues-rock of DeWolff (2/III ) or the blues with touches of reggae by the British Errol Linton (23/II). And, finally, from the local area, classics of our ska-reggae such as the Gramophone Allstars Big Band (9/II) or Dr. Calypso (9/III), who this time will pair up with the insultingly young Les Testarudes, a band made up of ten women who, in barely a year and a half, are already accumulating live shows and audience success all over the country.
