For the first time ever, GM Gyvai (“Gera muzika gyvai”, or Good Music Live) presents the Kaunas Blues Festival on the first weekend of October. It will feature famous performers from USA, Canada and various European countries at the Kaunas Sports Hall, with free concerts during the day in the Station district as well as nightly improv sessions.
“GM Gyvai” has been organizing world music concerts for nearly twenty years, beginning with a blues concert in Kaunas. Founder and director Žilvinas Švarplys says he discovered the blues in 2001 in Chicago, and it changed his whole outlook on music. He sent the first blues performers to Kaunas, and a network of fans began spreading. Then the time came for a blues festival – in Kaunas. Organizers are intent on introducing listeners to the variety of music within this genre, featuring everything from soul to jazz to blues rock to Afro blues.
The improved acoustics in the renovated Kaunas Sports Hall and additional funding for sound quality will allow festival-goers to more fully appreciate the power of blues. On October 6, the first night of the festival, the stage will welcome widely popular Canadian guitar virtuoso, blues rock performer Anthony Gomez, who will present his 16th solo album High Voltage Blues, topping the charts in the US for 22 weeks. The same evening, Roland Tchakounté of France, originally from Cameroon, will share his talent in synthesizing the sound of his African roots with traditional blues.
On Saturday evening, the audience will hear blues melding with jazz, soul and R&B, from the Diva of Memphis, Toni Green, and saxophonist Sax Gordon from USA who will appear with one of the best blues groups from Italy, the Luca Giordano Band.
During the day, the Juke Joint culture will be recreated in several bars in the Station district.
Dutch guitarist and street performer Markus K, who has travelled the world with his 30-year old suitcase is also in the daytime program with his original compositions as well as classical blues tunes.
Festival-goers will be able to travel to Kaunas from the capital on the Blues Bus as well as the Blues Train featuring live music. Tickets for the festival are available at www.bilietai.lt, with additional information at www.gmgyvai.lt. The event is funded by the Culture Council of Lithuania and the City of Kaunas.
