| Barikada
- World Of Music - Backstage 2007 |
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| SKOPJE BLUES
& SOUL FESTIVAL 2008
July 2008 - Skopje, Macedonia |
Skopje Blues & Soul Festival 2008
July 2008, Skopje, Macedonia
Years may come and years may go, but Skopje Blues & Soul
Festival is still an institution, undisputed well of great music and positive
vibes. This year’s
edition was no exception as anybody in attendance can confirm with ease. Two
night event (July 2, 2008 and July 3, 2008) of cool sounds left everybody
happy and wondering if it could possibly be expanded to more days. Great line-up
of artists
who presented their
kind
of blues and confirmed their status within blues community and were in great
form, doing justice to this musical genre, mother of them all (almost!).
Proceedings on the first night were opened by Venko Serafimov
and his band The Bluesfakes, local all-star line-up featuring veterans and
young guns of
Macedonian blues scene. Venko Serafimov is an excellent guitarist, composer
and arranger of local legend status. His credits include excellent album
by his 80's rock band Concord, music for theatre, movies and TV projects
which
gained him reputation even outside Macedonia. For this festival Venko prepared
a varied set which included material from his rocking days and cool renditions
of familiar blues and rock tunes of well known people and all that sounded
just fine on this hot Summer night. His band displayed quality musicianship
and youthful female vocalist added plenty of fine singing and good looks!
Venko Serafimov once again proved his guitar abilities playing as good as ever,
even
after quite some time. This was the occasion to put him on the stage again,
an offer he just could not refuse! His fluid and original style had fellow
guitarists in the audience eyes wide open, absorbing his licks and riffs
performed with ease of seasoned journeyman. Great start of the evening and
well deserved
applause for Venko and his band members. We can only hope that this band
can record some blues stuff in the near future, because they deserve to be
heard
by much wider audience.
Lance Lopez and his band came directly from Dallas, Texas
and started their European tour right here in Skopje, took the stage and set
new standards
for performing skills which left all attended jaw dropped! This young but
already
world-class guitar slinger put on a show that will be remembered for its
intensity, never-let-go approach, great guitar playing, fabulous vocals
and professionalism
that goes beyond his age. Cody Norman on drums and Tony Valdez on bass
were perfect vehicle for Lance’s music. Indeed we have not seen a guitarist
on
stage in Skopje who played his long set as if it was the last one he would
ever do,
he put his heart into it and people felt it and loved every minute of his
performance. Material consisted of his own songs (he promoted his latest
album "Higher Ground")
and great renditition of Jimi's "Spanish Castle Magic", his fingers did
the talking, heads and feet were shaking, excellent excuse for beer consumption!
Lance Lopez has absorbed different styles of playing, most notably Jimi
Hendrix,
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King and alike, making a sound of his own, a
winning combination wherever he plugs one of his guitars into old Marshall
amp. He
left Skopje for gigs with Whitesnake and ZZ Top, enough said! Can’t wait
to have him back in the near future, that’s how good he was!
Second night of the festival featured Matt Schofield Trio
from UK and those nice gentlemen, Blues Company from Germany. Matt Schofield
has been recently voted among ten of the best British blues guitarists of all
time which speaks volumes about his guitar
abilities and he did show his potential on the stage in Skopje. His band
feature
Jonny
Henderson on cool Hammond and Evan Jenkins behind traps, a configuration
that is usually
connected with organ jazz combos of the fifties and sixties, but proved
to be equally effective within the blues idiom. His fluid playing recalls
Albert
Collins at times, especially in slow burning numbers which became Matt’s
trademark and crowd pleasers. Occasional breath of New Orleans sounds
put
refreshing
mix in their set. Compact ensemble playing was obvious and joy to experience
in live setting, Evan’s shuffle rhythms and Jonny’s organ fills matched
perfectly Matt’s guitar skills, this little band really cooks and delivers!
Matt and
the guys are very modest and down to earth people who deserve all accolades
coming to them these days. Band definitely gained few more fans in
this part of Europe and quite rightly so!
Festival activities were closed in great style by an excellent
band from Germany: Blues Company, who played here few times before and by public
demand were back
again. Blues Company easily confirmed what we already know, they are
one of the best bands in Europe whose high level performing skills
guarantee
a great
show whether in club or stadium setting. Augmented by BC Horns, Blues
Company
put on and energetic set full of goodies which included their well
know tracks, all of them crowd pleasers, plus tracks from their latest album
which were
well received too. Leader of the band is a great singer/guitarist Toshe
Todorovic who was in a special mood, namely his ancestors come from
Macedonia,
so every
time he plays here, there’s a lot of emotion involved. Audience responded
favorably to Blues Company’s music by singing along and dancing, all
in all fine performance
as expected!
Finally, the festival was huge success, real gathering of
blues fans and fans of good music in general looking forward anxiously to next
edition.
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