Blues festivals are music festivals which focus on blues music. Blues is a genre[1] and musical form that originated in African-American communities in the Southern United States around the end of the 19th century. It has elements of traditional African music, American folk music, spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.[2] Blues has since evolved from unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, such as country blues, Delta and Piedmont, Chicago, West Coast blues. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience, especially white listeners.
See main article: List of blues festivals in Canada.
| Name | City | First year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | |||
| 1991 | |||
| 1994 | |||
| 1995 | |||
| 1999 |
| Name | First year | City | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Bendigo, Australia | ||
| Blues on Broadbeach Music Festival | 2002 | Gold Coast, Australia | |
| 1993 | Queenscliff, Australia | ||
| 1990 | Byron Bay, Australia | ||
| 2002 | Gympie, Australia | ||
| 2004 | Fremantle, Australia | ||
| Marysville Jazz and Blues Weekend | 2014 | Marysville, Australia |
| Name | First year | City | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Kathmandu, Nepal | ||
| Kathmandu Blues n Roots Festival | 2016 | Kathmandu, Nepal | |
| 2011 | Mumbai, India |
| Name | First year | City | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orkney Blues Festival | 2005 | Stromness, Scotland | |
| Bluesroute Helmond | 2011 | Helmond, Netherlands[27] | |
| Holland International Blues Festival | 2016 | Grolloo, Netherlands[28] | |
| 1961 | London, England | ||
| Focsani Blues Festival | 2016 | Focșani, Romania | |
| Blues Peer (Belgium Rythmn 'n' Blues) | 1986 | Peer, Belgium | |
| 1962 | Europe | ||
| Bath Festival of Blues 1969 | 1969 | Bath, England | |
| 1970 | Bath, England | ||
| Puistoblues | 1978 | Järvenpää, Finland | |
| 1981 | Katowice, Poland | ||
| 1988 | Isola del Liri, Italy | ||
| Pistoia Blues Festival | 1980 | Pistoia, Italy | |
| Blues to Bop Festival | 1988 | Lugano, Switzerland | |
| 1988 | Notodden, Norway | ||
| 1990 | Monaghan, Ireland | ||
| 1993 | Haapsalu, Estonia | ||
| 2001 | Upton-on-Severn, England | ||
| 2002 | Derry, Northern Ireland | ||
| 2003 | Longyearbyen, Norway | ||
| 2006 | Callander, Scotland | ||
| Stafford Blues Festival | 2015 | Stafford, England | |
| Blues Nights | 1993 | Varniai, Lithuania | |
| Blues-Bike Festival Suzdal | 2008 | Suzdal, Russia | |
| Baltic Blues / Bluesfest | 1989 | Eutin, Germany | |
| Brunner Blues Festival / Bluesfest | 2007 | Brunn am Gebirge, Austria[29] | |
| Santa Maria Blues | 2004 | Santa Maria Island, Portugal | |
| Suwalki Blues Festival / Bluesfest | 2007 | Poland[30] | |
| Moulin Blues Ospel | 1986 | Ospel, Netherlands[31] |