Three great concerts with free admission to close the 28th in style Pordenone Blues Festival: The Star of Soul Reggae Neka, the great guitarist Melvin Taylor Blues Machine and the virtuoso of the keys Bob Malone with his band. It will be a big party with free entry, an unmissable musical event preceded and enriched by the 2019 Blues Contest valid for the selections of 36th International Blues Challenge!
Starting at 16: 00
SAN VALENTINO LIVE PARK – D4
Experience the park with great music, good food and fun.
International-level concerts, DJ sets and entertainment will alternate on two stages and around the park.
Join us!
FOOD & DRINK AREA
The rhythms of refined music meet real street food.
Starting at 16: 30
SECOND STAGE LIVE
INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE FINALS
Il Pordenone Blues Festival together with Deltablues Rovigo and Rootsway Festival and with the collaboration of Il Blues Magazine have organized this event on a national scale to identify the two figures (band and solo/duo) worthy of representing Italy in Memphis (USA) in the largest blues festival in the world.
The finalists will access the selections of the 36th edition of the International Blues Challenge (IBC), which will be held - as usual - in Memphis next winter between the main venues along Beale Street and the Orpheum Theatre, which will host the world final of this “Battle of the Band” organized by the Blues Foundation.
In case of rain the International Blues Challenge will be moved to the Concordia Auditorium Via Interna n.2 – Pordenone
DJ Set by Olindo
Starting at 19: 00
MAIN STAGE LIVE
The concerts will be held even in case of rain.
MELVIN TAYLOR BLUES MACHINE (USA)
Melvin Taylor, born in 1959, is considered one of the greatest blues guitarists in the world. Rolling Stone magazine called him “an innovator of the blues without ever losing sight of his roots.” The New York Times defines him as a volcanic guitarist who manages to bring the audience into a state of total excitement, mixing his stage presence with an arsenal of rhythm, melody, bending to the limit of the possible, use of the wah and a taste for the tradition of the famous blues Chicago-branded. His amazing technique, impeccable sense of rhythm and phrasing have contributed to giving him a place of honor among the masters of the six strings. Taylor found his place in the world of blues at a very young age and in 1980 he was noticed by Muddy Waters who decided to take him on tour with him. From 1982 to today he has released 10 albums and 9 singles and has performed thousands of concerts and festivals all over the world. Some of his best known works are Evidence Music – Bang That Bell (1999), Dirty Pool (2002), Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band (2003), and Rendezvous With the Blues (2004) up to the self-produced Beyond the Burning Guitar (2010 ), Sweet Taste of Guitar (2012), and Taylor Made (2013). At the end of the summer tour he will return to the studio with the Melvin Taylor Blues Machine to record the new album.
NNEKA (NGA)
Born in Nigeria to a German mother and Nigerian father, Nneka approached music already in her early years, naturally without going unnoticed. Having moved to Germany upon reaching adulthood, she began her dazzling career in the name of Black Music.
The award-winning Nneka, who with her sound has climbed the charts of many countries, is not just any pop star: her music is a smoothie of reggae, afro-beat, hip-hop, funky-soul and desert-blues grafted with lyrics direct and politically committed to telling the plagues of their country of origin.
Hip hop legend NAS calls her “an extraordinary artist”, the Sunday Times hailed her as the new Lauryn Hill. Nneka is a figure of great charisma: she was a judge on the fourth season of Nigerian Idol, but she has also arrived overseas as a guest on David Letterman and on BET's 106 & Park, and has graced the most important stages in Europe. Her social commitment led her to found “The Rope Foundation” in 2012, with Sierra Leone MC Ahmed Nyeje (Genda): a platform of support, expression and social inclusion through art for boys and girls .
Nneka, who has 4 albums to her credit, was nominated at the MTV Africa Music Awardsha, won a MOBO for Best African Act and recorded a tribute song called Viva Africa for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
He boasts collaborations with Joss Stone, Ziggy Marley and Eeady with whom he recorded the single Express Yourself, Wesley Williams with whom he recorded Kangpe.
With his concerts he continues to perform and electrify audiences all over the world.
BOB MALONE BAND (USA)
Bob Malone comes from the Berkley College of Music, and in his career he has played with a series of top-level artists: from Al Green to Jackson Browne, from the Neville Brothers to Dr. John, Bruce Springsteen and Leon Russell, until joining the band of the great John Fogerty with whom he has been playing on the most important stages in the world for years (the concert in Hyde Park in London in 2012, where Fogerty was joined on stage by Springsteen, was unforgettable, as was the joint tour with ZZTop last summer). Last year - in conjunction with his participation in Umbria Jazz - Bob released, through the Italian label Appaloosa Records, the CD "Mojo Live - Live at the Grand Annex", which joins his discography of 6 CDs from 2001 to 2016, in addition to all the collaborations with great artists, not least the great Ringo Starr. His style embraces the most shameless rock n' roll and then contaminated with the sound of New Orleans and pure "Detroit" soul. On the stage of Pordenone Blues Festival will be accompanied by Stefano Sanguigni on electric guitar, Alessandro Maiorino on bass and Marco Breglia on drums.
Nneka – Video
Melvin Taylor – Video
Bob Malone – Video
