23. Rawa Blues Festival

The contest part of this Rawa Blues discovered several new, interesting Polish blues artists, such as: Afera, Piotr Ruciński Trio, Terraplane and the winner Patchwork with Ola Łysiak as the vocalist.

The Main Stage performances began Magda Piskorczyk & Step Mother with the guitarist Leszek Winder as the special guest. The same applause had the band Kłusem z bluesem. Another artists  J.J. Band played the stuff from the first album, unlocking the door to the other Polish festivals. The group Seven B with their Texas sound heat the audience, the same did Riders with Anika as the vocalist. The first part of the Festival was closed by Formacja Fru.

The guests from Finland - Black River Bluesman couldn't fight the stress of playing in 

front of such big audience. The Canadian musician Bill Dowey and his Blues Devils dealt with the stress much better. The resident of the Festival Irek Dudek surprised everybody while appeared on stage alone with the acoustic guitar. Later, he came back as the special guest of Tadeusz Nalepa, who celebrated his 60 birthday.

The parade of foreign stars was also the great blues lesson. From the classical Chicago sound of Jody Williams, through acoustic and energetic solo performance of Rory Block, to the eruption of energy connected with the avalanche of guitar solos in Michael Burks' show. His show conquered spectators' hearts. 

American stars were amazed of the Polish fans reaction and assured journalists, that they would always come back to Rawa Blues eagerly. 

This year I sponsored Rawa on my own. But money is not all. The most important things are music and tradition. If I didn't find the donators, I would give private money again – said Irek Dudek.