MEMPHIS (CelebrityAccess) — The Blues Foundation has announced that it will mark its 40th anniversary by saluting this year’s Keeping the Blues Alive Award honorees during Int’l. Blues Challenge Week.
The KBA Awards, chosen annually by a select panel of blues professionals, salutes those who have played crucial roles in advancing the art and commerce of blues. This year’s esteemed honorees will be recognized for their achievements at the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards brunch, taking place on Friday, January 31, 2020, 10:30 a.m., in the Holiday Inn Memphis-Downtown Ballroom.
The 2020 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards recipients are: Peter Astrup, a promoter who has dedicated his life to establishing and expanding the blues music scene in his native Denmark and throughout Europe; Dr. Rob Bowman, associate professor of music at Toronto’s York University; Cali Blues & Folk Festival, a signature event of the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano in Cali, Colombia; Hal & Mal’s USA Blues Club, one of the first white-owned venues in central Mississippi to book black bands including Albert King, B.B. King, James Brown, and countless others; Jimiway Blues Festival, a nonprofit initiative rooted in the mission of presenting a broad spectrum of blues music styles to the people of Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland; Dr. Janice Johnston, who has been an advocate for blues musician health since becoming involved with The Blues Foundation in 2013; Jus’ Blues Music Foundation, a Georgia-based nonprofit organization founded in 1995 “to preserve blues heritage through cultural arts by nurturing the soul of the blues with historical blues education programming”; Kentuckiana Blues Society, founded in 1988 with the goal to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the blues tradition in all its forms; and Kathleen Lawton, one of the world’s preeminent blues DJs.
The KBA ceremony represents just one part of The Blues Foundation’s 36th Annual International Blues Challenge, the world’s largest and most renowned blues music competition. The IBC Week kicks off Tuesday, January 28, 2020, with International Showcase performances from more than 800 musicians on historic Beale Street, and concludes with the finals at Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, February 1 at 12 noon.
To purchase an International Blues Challenge Pass and final seating upgrades, along with tickets to the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards Brunch and Ceremony, click HERE.
