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.
.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:
Marco Marchi wins the Swiss Blues Award 2022
At least 200 gigs a year have made Marco Marchi one of the "Hardest Working Men in Swiss Blues Biz". Born in Milan, he earned his musical spurs in bands of every stylistic hue. Since the guitarist and singer put down roots in Ticino, however, he has indulged in his great love - the various blues styles from the first half of the 20th century. With his Mojo Workers, founded in 2009, Marco Marchi tours in changing line-ups, skilfully interprets classics from the Mississippi Sheiks to Robert Johnson, and writes exciting, genre-true original compositions. Marco Marchi won the Swiss Blues Challenge in Geneva in 2011 and was the first Swiss representative to travel with his band to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge.
The jury of the Swiss Blues Award and the board of the Blues Festival Basel congratulate Marco Marchi and wish him continued joy, health and success.
www.facebook.com/MarcoMarchiTheMojoWorkers
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.
News
Once again, the Blues Festival Basel had to be canceled for this year (Read more on the festival's website). It will now take place from December 17 to 22,...
more. . .