Blues festival to feature 24 gigs in 20 cities in 22nd year

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Blues festival to feature 24 gigs in 20 cities in 22nd year
September 7, 2011
Today's Zaman

Turkey's annual traveling celebration of blues music, the Efes Pilsen Blues Festival, will host American bluesmen Lucky Peterson, Rick Estrin and John Mooney in its upcoming edition this fall, the event's organizers announced this week.


This year's festival will hit the road Sept. 23 and continue through Oct. 29, presenting 24 concerts in 20 cities across Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), according to a written statement released on Tuesday by Ä°stanbul-based event management giant Pozitif, which has been handling the event since 1990.

Blues lovers across Turkey will get a chance to listen to New York-based guitarist and keyboardist Lucky Peterson, the son of bluesman James Peterson, who fuses soul, R&B, gospel and rock 'n' roll into his unique tunes of contemporary blues; San Francisco-based harmonica virtuoso Estrin and his band The Nightcats; and New Orleans-based guitarist/singer Mooney, one of the finest representatives of Mississippi Delta blues, in back to back performances in this year's festival.

The festival's 7,698-kilometer journey will begin Sept. 23 in the southern city of Adana and conclude Oct. 28-29 in the west with a two-night stint in İzmir. Three Ankara gigs are scheduled for Oct. 13-15 at the Bilkent Hotel, while the tour's İstanbul leg is set for Oct. 21-22 at the Lütfi Kırdar Convention Center.

A total of 84 bands and 256 singers have performed in the past editions of the festival, which has presented 338 concerts in total, drawing more than 406,000 blues lovers in 21 years.

Tickets, with prices ranging from TL 15 to TL 30, will go on sale Thursday through www.biletix.com.