COMMITTED TO THE BLUES
Welcome to the website of the jury of the Swiss Blues Awards. Here you will find all information about the award, as well as the results of all past nominations and awards.
The Swiss Blues Award was established in 2003 by the Bluesfestival Basel and honours people or institutions in Switzerland who have made an extraordinary contribution to the blues scene as artists or promoters. The prize is awarded annually on the first evening of the festival. The choice is made by an independent jury of experts.
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Justina Lee Brown wins the Swiss Blues Award 2024
Blues Festival Basel is delighted to announce that the legendary Swiss Blues Awards 2024 will be presented to a worthy winner on Friday evening, 19 April 2024 at Volkshaus Basel. This fills us with great joy and pride.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR'S AWARD WINNER JUSTINA LEE BROWN!
Thanks to her music, Justina Lee Brown has managed to leave behind her hard life as a street kid in the ghetto of Lagos, Nigeria. With blues, soul, funk and lots of African influences, Justina creates an infectious, independent sound that allows her to emotionally express her very personal lyrics. She won the Swiss Blues Challenge with her Swiss band in 2019, became a crowd favourite at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in January 2020 and reached the semi-finals, and topped these successes in May 2022 with an outstanding second place at the European Blues Summit in Malmö, Sweden. On her impressive new album "Lost Child", Justina Lee Brown reveals that she not only knows how to set off musical fireworks on stage.
Read more: Justina Lee Brown wins the Swiss Blues Award 2024
Chris Lange receives the Swiss Blues Lifetime Achievement Award
CHRIS LANGE - THE FIRST SWISS BLUESMAN
Chris Lange was born in Zurich on 4 April 1942 and died on 7 April 2023, making him one of the first European musicians to pick up an electric guitar. He was therefore one of the first pioneers of the blues in Europe and Switzerland and was instrumental in promoting its spread. Chris Lange played guitar, keyboards, percussion and xylophone.
He founded the Chris Lange Rhythm and Blues Combo at the end of the 1950s. He later played in numerous formations in the 1960s, including Driving Wheel, Freeway 75 and The Baracudas, all of which contributed to the development and spread of the blues in Switzerland.
In 1961, he recorded an LP for the Storyville label in Copenhagen together with the pianist Champion Jack Dupree, who had settled in Zurich. Fun fact: It was only 5 years later that the American bluesman recorded albums with Eric Clapton and John Mayall.
He had less talent for shows, which is why he was somewhat forgotten, although he made many recordings at home and continued to champion the blues until the end. It was not until 2017 that he appeared again as a guest with the Swiss Blues Legends at their premiere at the Bluesfestival Baden.
The Bluesfestival Basel is proud to honour him posthumously with a lifetime achievement award.
The nominees for the Swiss Blues Award 2024 have been chosen.
Marco Piazzalonga
The jury selected three musicians who have made a special contribution to Swiss blues and are now candidates for the coveted Swiss Blues Award. The award will be presented at this year's Blues Festival Basel on April 2024. The three candidates are:
Justina Lee Brown on place 2 of the European Blues Challenge
They still exist, the successes of the Swiss music scene in the international arena! Last night, the Nigerian-born singer Justina Lee Brown, who lives in Baden, Switzerland, played and sang her way to second place with her Swiss band at the European Blues Challenge. Already in 2020, the winner of the Swiss Blues Challenge 2019 reached the semi-finals at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and with her brilliant Swiss band enraptured the attending musicians* and spectators with three brilliant performances, becoming the winner of the heart at Memphis' legendary Beale Street.
Also in Memphis in 2022, another success of the Swiss blues scene: In May 2022, the Ticino-based formation Freddie and the Cannonballs made it to the semifinals of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Previously, the blues band had won the Swiss Blues Challenge 2021 initiated by the Swiss Blues Society.
Read more: Success for Justina Lee Brown at the European Blues Challenge
Lilly Martin wins the Swiss Blues Award 2020
Due to the Corona pandemic, the 21st Blues Festival Basel has had to be postponed for the third time. As a result, the Swiss Blues Award could not be presented in spring 2020 as planned, and the award ceremony in December 2020 was also cancelled. Finally, it was certain that the festival could be held in December 2021. The coveted prize was to be presented on 18 December 2021. Unfortunately, the festival was once again a victim of the pandemic.
The festival management and the jury of the Swiss Blues Award had decided to present the award in an exclusive event on 18 December. The presentation and appreciation took place by Thierry Rueff, Jury President of the Swiss Blues Award and Edo Löw, President Verein Blues Festival Basel and member of the jury of the Swiss Blues Award - Covid conditionally in a small setting - together with our most important partners as well as supporters and a simple ceremony, but nevertheless with a dignified character.
