American Folk Blues Festival

The American Folk Blues Festival (also American Folk-Blues Festival, and AFBF) was a music festival that toured the United States and Europe beginning in 1962.

Related Topics:
Music festival - United States - Europe

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German jazz publicist Joachim Ernst Berend first had the idea of bringing original African-American blues performers to Europe. Jazz had become very popular, and rock and roll was just gaining a foothold, and both genres drew influences directly back to the blues. Berend thought that European audiences would flock to concert halls to see them in person.

Related Topics:
German - Jazz - Joachim Ernst Berend - African-American - Blues - Rock and roll - Concert hall

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Promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau would bring this idea to reality. By contacting Willie Dixon, an influential blues composer and bassist from Chicago, they were given access to the blues culture of the deep South. The first festival was held in 1962, and they continued annually until 1972.

Related Topics:
Horst Lippmann - Fritz Rau - Willie Dixon - Composer - Bassist - Chicago - South

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Blues musicians who performed include Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lonnie Johnson, Big Joe Williams, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon. Many of the concerts were released on a long-running annual series of records, which was collated again for release in the 1990s.

Related Topics:
Muddy Waters - Sonny Boy Williamson - Lonnie Johnson - Big Joe Williams - John Lee Hooker - Memphis Slim - 1990s

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Attendees of the first London festivals are believed to include such influential musicians as Mick Jagger, Eric Burdon, Eric Clapton, and Steve Winwood, who were the primary movers in the blues explosion that would lead to the British Invasion.

Related Topics:
Mick Jagger - Eric Burdon - Eric Clapton - Steve Winwood - British Invasion

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Sites were the festival was held included London, Hamburg, Paris, and others.

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