HARBOUR BLUES ‘N ROOTS FESTIVAL

HARBOUR BLUES ‘N ROOTS FESTIVAL

Where: Ship Point, Inner Harbour, Victoria
When: Friday, Aug. 23–Sunday, Aug. 25
Tickets: $39 from rmts.bc.ca (250-386-6121) or the Victoria Jazz Society Office (250-388-4423); festival pass for $99

When organizers of the former — and long-running — Vancouver Island Blues Bash changed the festival’s moniker in 2022, it was a move designed to give additional genres of music a presence on the bill.

That decision paid immediate dividends. Audiences at the BC Smoke Shop Harbour Blues ‘n Roots Festival have seen everyone from Latin star Alex Cuba (in 2022) to Grammy Award-winning multi-hyphenate Fantastic Negrito (2023) in recent years, alongside traditional blues acts that were the foundation of Blues Bash for the better part of 30 years.

“We definitely wanted to stretch the scope of what was available to us both locally and internationally,” said Kristen Binley, communications co-ordinator and programming assistant for the Victoria Jazz Society, which produces the event. “That opened it up to roots, country, and world music, while sticking to the blues, R&B and soul that we always had [at Blues Bash].”

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Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 August 2024 - 10:09 AM.