Symphony in Blues, at 013 Tilburg on 13 September 2009.

The unique blues festival “Symphony in Blues” will take place at the 13th of September at 013, Tilburg. Six international blues guitar players, a symphony with 30 musicians and en excellent band will amaze the visitors of this festival. Together with the “Magnum Opus Orchestra” and a band, who is known als The Veldman Brothers, various artists will show the best of themselves. The Veldman Brothers are four talented musicians with a lot of experience in blues. They're influenced by each other and the real heros of the blues. All styles are played by this band. Blues and rhythm & blues, swing blues and delta blues with a little bit of rock, blues with a little bit of soul or funk, it doesn't matter. This is blues & roots straight from the heart!

Various top artists will perform that night together with the orchestra and The Veldman Brothers. Big names like Snowy White, Julian Sas, Ian Siegal, Ted Oberg, Ana Popovic, Matt Schofield, Mick Hup and Tineke Schoemaker, they will all be there. Most of the guitar players have said to Joost van den Broek (arranger of Symphony in Blues, red.) that playing with an orchestra does mean something special to them. Symphony in Blues is a musical flight through the archives of the blues. The best songs of the last 40 years will be played in Tilburg. During the show of more than two hours the orchestra will play an important role. It's going to be a very special event for all blues lovers  and the musicians certainly don't want to miss this.

A experienced musician like Snowy White said that playing with acts like Roger Waters and Pink Floyd made his wish to perform with symphonic groups even bigger. Terence Charles (Snowy) White is a guitar player with a very good technique. His fame is well known nowadays. Thanks to the timeless record 'Bird of Paradise' he gained a lot of fame.

Off course, there's our own Julian Sas. Every time he performs with his band he's getting more and more fans. The venue 013 has become a kind of 'home' for him. Together with bass player Tenny Tahamata and drum player Rob Heijne he makes a big event of every gig. Julian still has the power to strike you in the heart with his playing style.

Two successful European tours (2003/2004) with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings made him famous amongst the big audience. This success was followed by a UK-tour, which he did together with Big Bill Morganfield (son of Muddy Waters, 'The Blues God' according to Ian Siegal). Since these tours he has won a lot of fans in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Hungary.

As a session musician Mick Hup worked together with Noel Redding, the Irish song writers Francie Conway & Mark Gilligan, Stephen Housden ( The Little River Band), Theo Thumper ( Black Top), Anne Maarten 'Hills' van Heuvelen ( Black Top) and Marcel Singor. He wrote the songs for the rock opera 'Hot Sushi' and is made for producing. At this moment he playes with Ted Oberg.

That brings us to Ted. He had international hits with the famous Livin' Blues from The Hague, like Wang Dang Doodle and L.B. Boogie. He was the founder of the band and was important for the sound of Livin' Blues with his style of playing guitar. The last album he made with Livin’ Blues was in 1978, when they recorded Blue Breeze. This year Ted made a stunning comeback with Blues As Blues Can Get with his band OBERG. On this record he proves that he hasn't lost his magic.

Fortunately there are also female blues talents present at this festival. An example is Tineke Schoemaker, who is the lead singer of Barrelhouse, one of the most important bluesbands of the Netherlands. Barrelhouse is playing for 35 years now. The voice of Tineke is unique and has become even better and more authentic during all those years.

There's also Ana Popovic from Belgrade, former Yugoslavia. She studied for a while in Utrecht, but discovered that her heart was with music. In the end she choose her big loves, the  guitar and the blues. Ana, a blues guitar player with a jazzy and sometimes funky sound, has proven that she belongs to the international world of blues.

Matt Schofield is blues guitarist/singer from Manchester and also the last name in this line-up of great artists. I got in touch with Matt personally at Leerdam Blues, March 2009. The 31-year old and sympathetic Schofield is considered as the best Brittish blues guitar player of the last decennia. Head, Tails & Aces is the title of his new record. What do we have to expect from him? A nice jazzy sound, good guitar solos and also a swinging rhythm.

Everybody who got curious after reading about all those artist should definitely come to the first Symphony In Blues-festival at 013, Tilburg, September 13th. This is something you simply can't miss.

Website:
www.013.nl