Rawa Blues Festival in Katowice

The 27th Rawa Blues Festival opens at Spodek Hall in Katowice on September 6. When it first opened in 1981 it started as a relatively small event, but over the years, Rawa Blues Festival, named after the Rawa River flowing through Katowice, has become the largest blues festival in Europe.

Many of Poland’s and the world’s biggest blues stars are to perform, but just mentioning a few, like Luther Allison Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, Carey Bell, Cephas & Wiggins, C. J. Chenier, Rory Block, Little Charlie & The Nightcats, James Blood Ulmer & Vernon Reid, Paul Geremia, Roy Rodgers and many others, is enough to show how important the event is on a blues concert map.

This year, Spodek Hall will shine with blues stars yet again. On September 6, blues fans will be seduced by the music of Janiva Magness, Asylum Street Spankers, Storm Warming and, of course, Ireneusz Dudek, who came up with the Rawa Blues Festival idea in 1980.

Indisputably, this year’s biggest star will be Janiva Magness. The artist’s last two albums won her the Blues Music Award for “Best Contemporary Female Artist” in 2006 and 2007 and showed her technical perfection, maturity and versatility. Janiva’s performances are emotional. She sings acoustic blues, Bessie Smith standards, New Orleans rhythm and blues songs and dynamic blues-rock pieces. It shouldn’t take much to encourage attending the Rawa Blues Festival in Spodek, as it’s a great opportunity to relish in great music.

More information can be found at the festival web site: www.rawablues.pl/en