2nd Mijas International Blues Festival

September 14, 2008 in Reviews

Jane Spence reports on the 2nd Mijas International Blues Festival – online and exclusive!

Those of us living and working on the Costa del Sol tend, perhaps unfairly, to avoid the village of Mijas at all costs. But all that changed one glorious weekend in June, thanks to the vision and commitment of Kevin Hillier from the renowned London blues club Ain’t Nothin’ But. After three years of trying, he got the Mijas Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) to agree to help him stage the first Mijas International Blues Festival and it a fabulous weekend’s entertainment. This year’s event was as good, if not better than, last year’s festival!

Sadly, we arrived too late to see one of the UK’s best blues acts, West Weston’s Bluesonics… but, according to local DJ Terry Clear, who did a splendid job as compère, they were superb and ‘stole the show…as per last year’!

They were followed by a local band from Malaga, Lito Blues Band. This has always been an act worth seeing. Lito Fernandez is an excellent blues guitarist, and his band backs him with style. But recently they have got even better, as they have joined forces with the woman who is considered by many to be the coast’s finest singer, Kat Pearson. Kat had just returned from her mother’s funeral in America yet, like the true trouper she is, she still managed to deliver a first-class performance filled with strength and energy.

Next up was the band that Blues and Rhythm described as: ‘Europe’s premier exponents of fifties down-home and Chicago blues’: Big Joe Louis and His Blues Kings. They lived up to their reputation all right. They play true authentic blues, and Big Joe has a real blues voice. The crowd loved them…with good reason.

After Big Joe, we were treated to another class act from the USA: Peaches Staten. Peaches has a big personality and a big voice to match, something she demonstrated to us in fine style. She has all the power of the classic blues shouters! At the end of her set we had an added bonus as she called Kat up for an impromptu duet.

Then came the festival headliner Mud Morganfield, flown in especially from Chicago. Mud is the second son of the late, great Muddy Waters. He has always been interested in music, but has only recently started to perform, to honour his Dad and his Dad’s music, and to add a bit of his own flavour of blues. He looks and even sounds like his father, and on the evidence of his Mijas performance his Dad would be really proud of him. Mud was backed by a superb band, which included West Weston blowing some fabulous blues harp, and special guest Pete Wingfield on piano. Pete was as good as you would expect from someone who has played with everyone from Freddie King to Van Morrison to Paul McCartney.

The final act of the festival was Mijas’ own Trio del Saco, though there are five of them! This is a hugely entertaining band with a large and devoted following on the Costa. They have an amazing rhythm section. When the drummer and bassist combine their solos and get into a groove, you want them to go on all night, which can’t be said for most drum or bass solos!.

So thanks are due to Kevin Hillier and the Mijas Ayuntamiento for another fantastic festival. It has the feel of the early BluesCazorla festivals (BluesCazorla is the biggest and best blues festival in Spain). Let’s hope that the Mijas International Blues Festival will continue for many years, and grow into another of those special events to mark in red on our music calendars!

Jane Spence