Justina Lee Brown wins the Swiss Blues Challenge
A unforgettable experience
The 9th final of the Swiss Blues Challenge took place for the 5th time as part of the Summerblues Festival in Basel, on June 28, 2019.
The winner of the Swiss Blues Challenge 2019 is Justina Lee Brown and her band ( Nic Niedermann, Angelo Signore, Thom Wettstein und Robert Mark).
The singer and songwriter from Nigeria, who has now lived in Switzerland for several years, won her place among the 3 other finalists, who also deserve congratulations: David Minster, Steve Hophead and Enrique Parra & Max Dega Band.
Justina Lee Brown and her group will represent Switzerland at the European Blues Challenge which will take place in Malmö, Sweden on June 3 and 4, 2022, and if they wish at the International Blues Challenge , in Memphis from January 28 to February 1, 2020.
We extend our sincere thanks to the members of the Jury under the direction of Rolf Winter: Robert Amsler, Martine Henriod, Dylan Karlen, Thomas Slavicek and Tanja Wirz.
And thank you also to the whole team of the Summerblues Festival , who every year organize the Swiss Blues Challenge in a perfect way!
READ MORE https://justinaleebrown.com/justina-lee-brown-wins-the-swiss-blues-challenge-2/
Introducing the 2019 SBC Finalists!
The final of the Swiss blues competition, the “Swiss Blues Challenge” will take place for the fifth time in a row as part of the “Summerblues Basel” . The Volkshaus Basel will host the finalists on June 28, 2019. The Summerblues program is extensive and free.
These four finalists, selected by the “Swiss Blues” organization from many applicants, will compete for the title of Swiss blues champion:
JUSTINA LEE BROWN
The singer and songwriter has lived in Switzerland for years and represents blues, soul, R&B and funk, which she associates with Afro Pop. In 2009, she received the “Women in Entertainment Award” for the best African group in London. He is also known for his collaboration with Morblus , Groovepack and the Heinz Wirz Band . A feast for the eyes and ears!
DAVID MINSTER
The singer and multi-instrumentalist lives in Valais. Very small he realizes that he can reproduce the notes he hears and that he is self-taught. He learned quickly and, from the age of 11, he accompanied these melodies with his voice. He then became an avid singer and began working almost exclusively on his voice. He lost his father as a child and lived temporarily in Austin, Texas, where he studied music through his brother-in-law Calvin Russel and uncle Vince Taylor.
STEVE HOPHEAD
He was among the finalists last year. Folk, Blues, Rock are the elements from which Hophead creates his style with dobro, stompbox, guitar, harmonica, bouzouki: a Rootsm music that astonishes, carries away and blurs the boundaries. In a small room of his house in the Bernese Oberland, texts and melodies of his memories and encounters are born, which oscillate out of time and space. Somewhere in these deepest moments, the listener gets lost in the sometimes soft, then edgy beauty of the sounds. Homebrewed Roots’n’Blues roasted in the northwest and brewed in the Alps is what characterizes Steff Imobersteg aka ” Steve Hophead”
ENRIQUE PARRA & MAX DEGA BAND
Guitarist and singer Max Dega is an autodidact. He has been playing guitar in different formations since the age of 16 and is also very active behind the scenes of the blues scene in Ticino, for example for the Caslano Blues Nights , which he co-founded with Piergiorgio Giamboni. The ability to switch effortlessly from electric to acoustic guitar makes Max a versatile guitarist who can perform both an acoustic and an electric gig. At the Challenge, he will join Enrique Parra with the Spanish drummer and singer (whose voice commemorates Otis Redding ).
