Who supports the blues?
It is clear that musicians and singers are the true protagonists of more than four decades of blues history in the Catalan capital. It was they who, with their creativity, their hard work and their daily struggle against fashions that seemed to condemn them to an underground ostracism, managed to raise up a scene that, from the early nineteen-eighties, became a benchmark for the genre throughout Spain.
But it is also true that from the very first moment they have been accompanied by a group of enthusiasts, modest in number but enthusiastic and loyal, who have propped up this blues scene and made its consolidation possible. This unconditional support has taken shape in organisations and associations that, with more enthusiasm than resources, have contributed decisively to spreading word of the artists’ activity and have supported them concert after concert. The perseverance and obsession of these organisations, as a rule not very well organised, if the irony may be allowed, have been the mortar that has consolidated the blues in Barcelona, in a sui generis version of the musketeers’ motto “All for one and one for all”… Or, as Michael Jordan is said to have said: “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
