Text / Bluesir Photography / Chen Jiecong
Yesterday, Chicago Blues legend Billy Branch returned to Chicago from Shanghai after finishing his two-week first China tour with his band captain, Sumito ariyo Ariyoshi, who is also a member of the Blues Hall of Fame.
Bluesir, the organizer of this tour, as a pioneer in the promotion of blues, not only gave us the first opportunity to enjoy the purest Chicago blues in the country, but also made this tour a bridge that connects us to the roots of modern music.
As a blues that gave birth to rock (rock), jazz (jazz), soul (soul), rhythm blues (r&b) and many other modern music, as early as the fifties and sixties has been popular, to this day, although it has been tempered for more than a hundred years, making it difficult to compete with hip hop, electronic and other new favorites for popular trends, but its historical precipitation not only makes the blues emit a thicker classical charm, but also becomes a compulsory course for musicians and music lovers because of its roots.
The tour stops in Beijing
Chicago Blues Ambassador Billy Branch (Billy Blanche) and Sumito Ariyo Ariyoshi (with Jishu Beauty) this ice-breaking trip, like Billy's famous album of the same name song "Blues shock", Billy's shock everywhere he went was stronger than this winter's flu, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou had the honor of being the first round of "blues shock" cities, and this kind of live shock to crazy music also made many post-90s direct calls "Being planted with grass".
Billy on stage mobilized the emotions of the audience like a magician, harmonica is his magic wand, blues is his spell, the audience twists with his rhythm, shouts in unison with his gestures, each one is difficult to end in the wave of "one more", and the finale track "got my mojo working" will bring more than 10 minutes of improvised ensembles.
Mojohand band
The band mojohand, which was played together on stage, was the opening guest of the tour, and the blues rock band composed of guitarist Wei Wei, bassist Wang Zheng, harmonica player Zhang Xiaosong, drummer Wu Zhijun, keyboardist Yang Ce and lead singer Cheng Chen had an average performance experience of more than 15 years, almost representing the top performance level in China. Among them, guitarist Wei Wei, bassist Wang Zheng, and drummer Wu Zhijun are also the band members of this Billy tour.
Beijing guest Hangtian
Every stop on this tour is as uncertain as the Blues scene. As the first stop of the tour in Beijing, the organizer bluesir invited Hang Tian, a pioneer of Chinese blues and rock singer-songwriter, as a guest of honor, and a song "Grumbling King Blues" made live music fans quickly enter the blues channel.
Entering the Tianjin station, a 5-year-old child took out a harmonica and played it with Billy, bringing joy to everyone on the scene, billy also gave a signature harmonica, and said that he looked forward to seeing him on the next tour.
At the JZ club at the Shanghai station, no audience sat in the booth like a jazz after the show began, and everyone fell into madness with Billy's blues.
The next day at the shanghai station's chain club, fans from Shenzhen and other cities took out harmonica and Improvised with Billy, five or six harmonicas made the scene even more crazy, and also made Billy quite surprised by the impact of blues on China.
The final battle in Hangzhou was beyond everyone's expectations, although many of the young people present were new to the blues, but neither the music nor the English lyrics prevented them from singing "blues shock" with Billy, and the whole tour ended in the chorus of "got my mojo working".
Billy and Ariyoshi have returned to Chicago, but the "blues shock" brought by the short two-week tour is still fermenting, and the value of blues is being rediscovered, just like billy's first blues scene in 1969 brought him shock, so that he finally embarked on the blues road, we believe that this tour will also have a profound impact on China's blues, rock, modern pop music.