Pat Savage.

CANADIAN bluesman Pat Savage is returning to KwaZulu-Natal to take part in this year’s Durban International Blues Festival.

Savage has been entertaining blues fans in the American Midwest, the deep south, and across Canada for over 30 years, playing clubs like Bourbon Street in Nashville, Slippery Noodle in Indianapolis, The Soup Kitchen in Detroit and at the Detroit Blues Festival, Toronto Harbour Front Festival, New York Arts Festival, Chicago Blues Fest and more.

Another big drawcard at this year’s festival is the Yamil Jacobo Trio from Argentina. Jacobo was born in 1967 in Villaguay, and started playing piano at the age of seven. He later swapped the keys for strings and took up the guitar.

Seduced by the blues-rock genre, he formed a number of different bands as a teenager and then, later, the Sopanegra trio with Rubén Gatt and Juan Mire; and El Malpaso featuring Maximiliano Cervetti, Joa Muriel, Luis Meinberg and Jacobo.

The Durban International Blues Festival will get under way tomorrow at 7 pm at The Plant in Station Drive Precinct, Durban, with a performance by the Sycamore Music School.

Then, from 8 pm until late, Durban’s finest blues musicians will be delivering an unmissable jam session. Admission to both events is free.

Black Water will get the second night of the festival started at 7 pm on September 21. They will be followed by the Smoke Train at 8 pm, The Yamil Jacobo Trio at 9 pm and Pat Savage at 10 pm.

Yamil Jacobo

Co-director of the festival, Tanya van Agthoven Marais, said: “Saturday is jam-packed with an amazing line-up of local and national blues favourites —  some known and some new to Durban audiences. The cherries on top are the international headline acts, who will no doubt have some interesting blues to feed an audience hungry for something new.”

Van Agthoven Marais added: “The Plant is a venue which ticks all the boxes in terms of safety, security, parking and a general all-round vibe for such a festival.”

Renegade Kitchen will supply food and cash bars will be available.

Memorabilia and CDs from all the musicians taking part in the festival will be on sale, as will some of Jacobo’s handcrafted cigar-box guitars.

And, Harry Lock, the official photographer for the festival, will again have some of his photographic pieces on exhibition.

While music is the main focus of the festival, co-director Pinky Mtshali is also co-ordinating workshops and musical clinics in and around Durban.

Tickets for the Durban International Blues Festival are R180 at Quicket and R200 at the door on show night. The seating is unreserved on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For more information, like the Facebook pages, Durban International Blues Festival and Friends of the Durban International Blues Festival, or go to http://www.durbanbluesfestival.co.za