A great atmosphere and only the best of music at the AmenoBlues Festival, makes this event one of the most exciting in the coming summer.
Music lovers are already looking forward to a summer, rich in blues: by now a regular happening in Ameno, home to music and artists. The preview on Sunday July, the second will open the thirteenth edition of AmenoBlues Festival, an extraordinary event which for several years has been drawing musicians of international acclaim to the shores of Lake Orta, also eagerly awaited by rapidly growing numbers of spectators and connoisseurs.
This year's edition will be dedicated to Chuck Berry, the mythical American guitarist, recently deceased, regarded as one of the pioneers of rock and roll, and to John Lee Hooker, another legendary musician whose roots belong to the Missisipi Delta, famous for his half-spoken style of blues and his boogie.
The background for the AmenoBlues concerts is quite evocative: the charming Parco Neogotico, the rooms in Palazzo Tornielli, Ameno's squares and the church in Vacciago provide a perfect setting for the melodies intonated in the evening light. Some events will also be hosted elsewhere in the surrounding area: in Baveno's beautiful Villa Fedora, in Bagnella's sports grounds and in the picturesque viillage of Campello Monti.
The success of the event is largely due to the artistic director of the Festival, Roberto Neri, in collaboration with a group of local enthusiasts from the hills around the lake, motivated by a desire to integrate good music and a shared passion for their native land. Appropriate choice of artists and selection criteria have turned the festival into an event of the highest standard: AmenoBlues represents a prestigious, worthwhile venue for many important bands.
Furthermore, an art exhibition by the painter Carlo Montana, dedicated to rock and blues musicians, will be held contemporaneously with the music festival in the rooms of Museo Tornielli and may be visited free of charge. An eclectic artist with a distinctive style, Montana donated his painting "Magic Bus-Peace&Love" as the image for the publicity brochure of the 2017 Festival.
The poignant melancholy of the blues, a kind of folk music which originated among black workers in the cotton fields and tobacco plantations of the United States, sung as they toiled to express life's hardships and mitigate their fatigue, can to this day transmit emotional vibrations and has preserved its extraordinary strength of expression. To quote, this may be because « blues is the soul of music, the source one always returns to for replenishment, generator and vital essence of all inspiration».
We warmly recommend all our La Darbia friends to go and see AmenoBlues for themselves in order to savour the excellent music, positive energy and magical atmosphere.