O bluesman Algarvian Vitor Bacalhau closed the podium of the European Blues Challenge 2018, which took place this Saturday in Hell, Norway, and brought together 21 blues bands from as many European countries.
“It was an excellent experience and a great opportunity to make contacts across Europe. I feel very proud of the result!«, said the musician today, to the Musical | Sul Informação, moments before boarding for Oslo.
The term "competition" creates some strangeness in the musician, seeing it as "another performance", but limited to 20 minutes, which led to a careful choice of themes, usually presented in a one-hour concert, now in a kind of show “best off”.
«For lack of better, that will be it, yes. The choice was not easy, it was by intuition and according to the way the songs fit together. It wasn't easy, but it's done, rehearsed and now it's time to get there,” the guitarist had said, before leaving for Norway. The choice seems to have had the desired effect, as the result is in sight.
The event, which included a fair for contacts with professionals in the area, lasted for three days, with performances focusing on Friday and Saturday and the performance of the Portuguese representative scheduled for the last day.
In an interview made on the eve of the trip to Norway and which can be heard today on the Musicália program, on RUA FM (20:00), there was some “nervous little one”, compensated by the concerts and rehearsals made in preparation for acting. «We had dedicated rehearsals and expectations are good, I'm confident it will be good for us, as a band too, they are experiences that always make us grow. It was good to bring “the mug” from there». And that's what happened, with the 3rd place achieved by the Algarve musician.
It wasn't the top spot, but for the first time, in eight years of competition and three with national presence, a Portuguese musician managed to climb the podium.
With this result, it will be easier to meet the expectations placed by the musician on his trip to Norway. “The main objective is to open some doors out there and, if that happens, it will be very good”.
For this, the presence in the Blues Market also contributes, which provides contacts between bands and professionals. «So that contacts can be made and to find out what is happening in the blues in Europe», emphasizes Vítor Bacalhau.
The podium was led by the Dutch representatives The Ragtime Rumors, while in 2nd place were the Danes Fried Okra Band.
A BB Blues Portugal Association is who oversees the choice of the Portuguese representative and who will host the European Blues Challenge, in 2019, as it takes place in Ponta Delgada, Azores.
Photos: BB BLUES Portugal
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