KANDIDATEN 2024
Federico Albertoni
In 2018, the time was ripe for Ticino bassist and singer Federico Albertoni to realise the idea of a rhythm'n'blues band with horns. And his vision has fully come to fruition: In 2021, Freddie & The Cannonballs won the Swiss Blues Challenge. In 2022, the band thrilled an American audience at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and advanced to the semi-finals of the competition. In the same year, bandleader Albertoni and his fellow musicians released the live double CD "Two Sides Of The Same Coin". And in spring 2023, the sextet successfully represented our country at the European Blues Challenge in Chorzow, Poland. Federico Albertoni also spreads his knowledge and enthusiasm for African-American music over the airwaves with his weekly radio show Melting Pot on RSI.
www.freddieandthecannonballs.com
Manu Hartmann
The time: late January 2019. The place: B.B. King's Blues Club on Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee. Manu Hartmann, winner of the Swiss Blues Challenge, sings her way into the semi-finals of the 35th International Blues Challenge with two spirited and dynamic performances. A well-deserved reward for an intense and focused life as a musician. Blues, jazz, soul and rock have defined Manu Hartmann's life from an early age. The album "Muddy 'Mississippi' Waters Live" became her key experience. The trained gilder enrolled at jazz school and put all her eggs in the music basket. In addition to concerts and galas with her band or as a duo, as well as guest appearances with musician friends, Manu Hartmann runs a singing school and directs various choirs. She demonstrates her stylistic versatility with her new album "There's Something Wrong".
Justina Lee Brown
Through 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 live out her very personal lyrics. With her Swiss band, she won the Swiss Blues Challenge in 2019, advanced to the semi-finals of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in January 2020, and topped these successes with an outstanding second place at the European Blues Summit in Malmö, Sweden, in May 2022. On her impressive new album "Lost Child", Justina Lee Brown reveals that she not only knows how to set off musical fireworks on stage.