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Reykjavík Blues Festival 2010 Schedule of events Blues in the city centre: Saturday, March 27th Opening ceremony and concert at City Hall 14:00-17:00 • The Reykjavík Cruiser Club will showcase “Bluesmobiles” in downtown Reykjavík at 14:00 www.kruser.is • The Blues Festival will open with live Blues performances in the streets, cafés, and shops of the city centre between 14:00 – 17:00 • Reykjavík Blues Festival club opens at Café Rósenberg Café Rósenberg from 21:00 – 01:00, Reykjavík Blues Festival Club
Sunday, March 28th Fríkirkjan (church in downtown Reykjavík) at 20:00 Divas Deitra Farr, Kristjana Stefáns, Ragnheiður Gröndal and Brynhildur Björnsdóttir Café Rósenberg from 21:00 – 24:00, Reykjavík Blues Festival Club
Monday, March 29th Café Rósenberg from 21:00 – 24:00, Reykjavík Blues Festival Club Jazz blue Monday
Tuesday, March 30th Concert at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica Hotel at 20:00 • Deitra Farr • Nordic All Stars Blues Band Café Rósenberg from 21:00 – 01:00, Reykjavík Blues Festival Club
Wednesday, March 31st Concert at the Reykjavik Nordica Hotel 20:00 • Billy Branch and the Blue Ice band • Ragnheiður Gröndal Café Rósenberg from 20:00 – 03:00, Reykjavík Blues Festival Club
Thursday, April 1st Concert at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica Hotel at 20:00 Super Chikan and the Fighting Cocks Blues frá Mississippi "Somebody shoot that thang!" Café Rósenberg from 20:00 – 24:00, Reykjavík Blues Festival Club
In keeping with tradition, the Blues Festival will continue to spotlight new and upcoming Blues talent. These young musicians will be performing at Blues Festival club and at the Hilton Reykjavík Nordica. Concerts will be held at the Hilton Reykjavík Nordica on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings at 8pm.. The Reykjavík Blues Festival will continue each evening from 9:00pm at Rosenberg club, Looking for an interesting event around Easter break? Are you a fan of blues ? Be a part of the annual Blues Festival in Reykjavik, a spring tradition in Iceland. Watch blues artists from Europe, Iceland and North America perform together in some of the most unique jam sessions in the Northern Hemisphere. Also catch performances from young and promising blues artists of the future. Here, anything can happen Super Chikan and The Fighting Cocks! No, this is not Little Red Rooster‘s hen house, but fiery and bold enough, Super Chikan and The Fighting Cocks are one of the major attractions at the annual International Reykjavík Blues Festival, that will be held from March 27th to April 1st. Flying in from Mississippee, these magnificent blues musicians are bound to thrill the audiences at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica Hotel, the venue of three grand gigs featuring international stars. Super Chikan, whose real name is James Johnson, holds already four nominations for the 2010 Blues Music Awards, as the BB King Entertainer of the Year, for Song of the Year for "Fred's Dollar Store", for Traditional Blues Album, his Chikadelic , and finally as Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year. A couple of years ago he was awarded the Living Blues Critics Awards for his outstanding musicality and entertaining performances. A life as a truck driver gave Super Chickan plenty of time to sing the blues and compose his own songs on long hauls across America. Finally he decided that the music should take over. As a boy, he was very fond of the chickens on the family farm, and before he was old enough to work in the fields, he would walk around talking to them. This led his friends to give him the nickname "Chikan Boy", which changed to Super Chikan for the artist James Johnson. The Fighting Cocks are quite an unusual heard. The band consists of three great musicians, LaLa Craigdelong on keyboards, Heather Tackett bass player and Jamiesa Turner on drums. Oh yeah, you got it right, a bunch of fabulous ladies. The concert at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica will be held on Thursday, April 1st at 8pm. -- If the blues was born in Mississippi, it certainly grew up in Chicago, and from the windy citiy‘s blues scene, comes harp player Billy Branch. His big break came in 1975 during a harmonica battle when he beat Chicago legend, Little Mac Simmons at the Green Bunny Club. He made his first recording for Barrelhouse Records and began to work as an apprentice harp player in the legendary Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars. He eventually replaced Carey Bell and worked with Willie Dixon for six years. Billy has recorded and performed with an incredible list of Blues legends including: Muddy Waters, Big Walter Horton, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, Johnny Winter, and Albert King. In 1990, he appeared with three harp legends: Carey Bell, Junior Wells, and James Cotton on W.C Handy Award winner CD, Harp Attack! His most recent recordings for the Polygram label are entitled The Blues Keep Following Me Around and Satisfy Me. Billy Branch will headline the concert at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica on Wednesday 31st at 8pm. Also performing that night is one of Reykjavik‘s young stars, singer Ragnheiður Gröndal. -- The magnificent diva Deitra Farr, is considered one of Chicago 's top vocalists, according to Living Blues Magazine. Well, audiences in Iceland could have told them long time ago after her many tours to the country since the 1990‘s. Fiery, energetic, and soul-stirring describes this woman, who has over the years been nominated for Traditional Female Blues artist of the year by the W.C. Handy Awards, Female Blues Artist of the year by the Living Blues Critics Awards, the British Blues Connection Awards, and the Les Trophees France Blues awards. Best of all, Deitra has the power of stirring the emotions of those who listen and giving them an unforgettable experience. Deitra Farr will perform at 8pm. on Tuesday March 30th at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica. The idea of a Nordic All Stars Blues Band was conceived at The Reykjavík Blues Festival few years ago. A new crew is selected every year and features many of the Nordic countries finest bluesman. This year band members come from Sweden, Norway and Iceland and among them is a rising star in the blues world, harmonica player Thorleifur Gaukur, an Icelander living in Norway. The Nordic All Stars will perform on Tuesday March 30th at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica. -- Watch out on Saturday March 27th, the opening day of the festival. If you see a caravan of really old Cadillacs, boat size Buicks and Fords lazing downtown, then follow them to the City Hall by the downtown lake, where the opening concert takes place. It‘s free, so join in and listen to the best of blues Iceland has to offer. If you prefer a not so refined athmosphere as the City Hall, the Blues Festival Club is open at Café Rósenberg on Klapparstígur 26, every night of the festival. Local bluesmen, Icelandic stars and the international superstars will perform into the night. Here, anything can happen. Those who choose the sombre atmosphere of the lent, should be sure not to miss a concert at Fríkirkjan, by the city lake on Sunday night march 28th at 8pm, where sublime divas, Deitra Farr, Kristjana Stefánsdóttir and Ragnheiður Gröndal wil perform spirituals.
Tickets Further information at www.blues.is Or contact us at bluesfest@blues.is . In keeping with tradition, the Blues Festival will continue to spotlight new and upcoming Blues talent. These young musicians will be performing at Blues Festival club and at the Hilton Reykjavík Nordica. Concerts will be held at the Hilton Reykjavík Nordica on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings at 8pm.. The Reykjavík Blues Festival will continue each evening from 9:00pm at Rosenberg club, 4-9 of april Looking for an interesting event around Easter break? Are you a fan of blues ? Be a part of the annual Blues Festival in Reykjavik, a spring tradition in Iceland. Watch blues artists from Europe, Iceland and North America perform together in some of the most unique jam sessions in the Northern Hemisphere. Also catch performances from young and promising blues artists of the future. # Hilton Reykjavík Nordica, offers all guests of Reykjavík Blues Festival 2010 an mailing address info Reykjavik Blues Festival Amtmannstigur 6 101 Reykjavik Iceland email bluesfest AT blues.is Tickets sold at: www.midi.is or at the door Info: www.blues.is Flights with www.Icelandair.com Festival pass 100 $ usd for Icelandair package deal customers only. All events , email bluesfest@blues.is for festival pass hotels : www.icehotels.is Location map:Icelandair Hilton Reykjavik Nordica
The hotel provides a superb spa and fitness center accompanied by mouthwatering international cuisine in the Vox restaurant. The Hilton Reykjavik Nordica houses a total of 252 rooms furnished to the highest standard, offering you peace and comfort in modern contemporary surroundings. James "Super Chikan" Johnson is an American blues musician, artist and guitar maker based in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is the nephew of fellow blues musician Big Jack Johnson. Chikan is a chronic blues party. Though his stylings are very rooted in the raw and traditional (think R.L. Burnside), he wows the crowd with the guitar antics (Jimi Hendrix) and the long-laced grooves will please any college kid jam bander looking for some deep blues (Grateful Dead). Though he's far from the Grateful Dead in composition, Chikan has that unique quality of crossing into the mainstream because of his grooves. Similar to Burnside and Kimbrough before him, Chikan brings the dust and ruckus of the Mississippi Jukes wherever he may roam. His music is continually positive and sometimes sexual and never falls down in the dumps. Chikan's music philosophy sounds like getting rid of the blues by playing them.
Billy returned to Chicago in the summer of '69 and graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in political science. It was during these years that he was introduced to the Blues. He soon became immersed in the local blues scene. He spent a great deal of time at legendary blues clubs such as: Queen Bee's and Theresa's Lounge; he learned from such stalwart harmonica players like: Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, Junior Wells and Carey Bell. His big break came in 1975 during a harmonica battle when he beat Chicago legend, Little Mac Simmons at the Green Bunny Club. He made his first recording for Barrelhouse Records and began to work as an apprentice harp player in Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars. He eventually replaced Carey Bell and worked with Willie Dixon for six years. During this time, Billy formed the Sons Of Blues (S.O.B.s) featuring musicians who where the sons of famous blues artists. The original S.O.B.s consisted of Billy, Lurrie Bell, Freddie Dixon and Garland Whiteside. They toured Europe and played at the Berlin Jazz Festival. Shortly afterward, they recorded for Alligator Record's Grammy-nominated Living Chicago Blues sessions, and Billy has been a regular studio player appearing on over fifty albums. Billy has recorded and/or performed with an incredible list of Blues legends including: Muddy Waters, Big Walter Horton, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, Johnny Winter, and Albert King. In 1990, he appeared with three harp legends:Carey Bell, Junior Wells, and James Cotton on W.C Handy Award winner, Harp Attack! His most recent recordings for the Polygram label are entitled The Blues Keep Following Me Around and Satisfy Me . Billy is also passing on the blues tradition to a new generation through his Blues In The Schools program. He is a dedicated blues educator and has taught in the Chicago school system for over twenty years as part of the Urban Gateways Project. In 1996, some of his finest students opened the Main Stage at the Chicago Blues Festival which was broadcast throughout the U.S. on National Public Radio. Blues producer, Chicago Beau has written, “Billy Branch has become a beacon, and model for his times; as an artist, and social/cutural activist... Billy Branch is a Bluesman; Billy Branch is the Blues.” ________
Deitra Farr is considered one of Chicago 's top vocalists, according to Living Blues Magazine (May 1997). Fiery, energetic, and soul-stirring describes this woman, who has over the years been nominated for Traditional Female Blues artist of the year by the W.C. Handy Awards, Female Blues Artist of the year by the Living Blues Critics Awards, the British Blues Connection Awards, and the Les Trophees France Blues awards . This Chicago native began her career in 1975, singing with local soul bands, before starting her blues career in the early 1980's. From 1993 to 1996, Deitra was the lead singer with Mississippi Heat, recording two CD's with this all-star group. In 1997, Deitra resumed her own solo career, continuing to sing blues, while reaching back to her soul music roots. After recording on eight previous CD projects with others, she recorded her first solo CD, “The Search is Over”, for the London-based JSP records. In 2005, Deitra released her second JSP CD “Let it Go!” The multi-talented Deitra Farr is also a published writer, poet, songwriter, and painter. A graduate of Columbia College (Bachelor of Arts in Journalism), Deitra has recorded many of her own compositions and has written articles for the Chicago Daily Defender, The Chicago Blues Annual, and the Italian blues magazine il Blues. Currently she has a column “Artist to Artist” in Living Blues Magazine. info www.deitrafarr.com ------------------------
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Billy Branch
The Blue Ice band They have performed at hundreds of concerts and have always offered Blues at its best. Guðmundur Petursson is one of the finest guitar players there is and to hear him play the blues is pure pleasure. Bandleader Halldor "Blue Ice" Bragason is the artistic director of the Reykjavik Blues Festival. He played with Zora Young and her all stars band on the mainstage at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2007 one of the members was the legendary sax player Abb Locke. The Blue Ice band is will be playing behind Zora Young headlining festivals in Europe in 2007.In 1993 the Blue Ice band recorded a CD with the Blues master Pinetop Perkins,"My favorate cd "he says, it is out of print and used copies have been sold on the internet for more then 100$. Pinetop recently received a Grammy "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his contribution to music. The Blue Ice Band played the Chicago Blues Festival in 1993 at Pinetops 80 th. birthday bash. The Blue Ice Band has also worked with other legends of the blues: Jimmy Dawkins cd "Blue Ice " and tours , Zora Young, Deitra Farr, Grana´ Louise , Billy Boy Arnold, and many many more.Festvals:Chicago Blues Festival, Reykjavik Blues festival, Rocce Rossi á Sardigna ,South by South-West in Austin, Texas. to name a few. Clubs from SRV hometurf Antone's Nightclub in Austin Texas to the far east Singapore