PORTO TOLLE (Rovigo) – A suggestive and exciting blues cruise, which took place on Saturday 1 June, on the Po Delta. “An imaginary twinning between our Po Delta and the Mississippi Delta, effectively marks the opening of the 37th edition of the Deltablues” he began Claudio Curina, artistic director of the international outdoor event, among the oldest in Italy. After the preview concert of the Festival, which took place on Sunday 26 May at the Al Pizzon mill in Fratta Polesine, with the duo from Chioggia, formed by Carlo De Bei and Alberto Boscolo Agostini, it is the turn of another duet, with Michael Van Merwyk & Gerd Gorke. Blues music, combined with gentle and slow sailing on the Po, is always very special.
And the tourists, who came from Rovigo, Padua, Bologna and other places, to take part in the three-hour navigation, with departure and arrival fromdocking of Ca’ Tiepolo in Porto Tolle. After the first twenty minutes, dedicated to the story of the territory and the whole history of the Po Delta, but not only, by Marino Cacciatori, whose motor ships have been the point of reference for excursions between the various branches for decades of the Po, it was the turn of the splendid music, proposed by Van Merwyk, a forty-year-old German singer, slide guitar specialist, who took the audience to the roots of blues music, together with the harmonica player Gorke, with a “Roots Blues” repertoire typical of the Mississippi Delta, playing masterfully, with his “Dobro” and a “black” baritone voice.
His now established career began with a second place finish at the 29th edition of the International Blues Challenge 2013 and he has thirteen record productions to his credit as well as important collaborations with leading artists on the international Blues scene, such as Larry Garner and Big Daddy Wilson. He was accompanied by Gerd Gorke, singer and harmonica player, who has been on the German Blues scene for over 20 years and, in addition to Van Merwyk, has collaborated with American blues musicians such as Angela Brown, Louisiana Red, Dave Myers, Sam Myers and for over 10 years with the American singer Jeanne Carroll. The Venere ship immersed itself in the heart of the Po Delta, along the Po di Pila and the “Busa di Tramontana”, up to the last offshoots of the Delta, where the river meets the sea, passing through what remains of the former Enel power plant of Polesine Camerini, the Polo lighthouse and the island of Scano Boa.
Deltablues is, as always, organized by Ente Rovigo Festival in partnership with the Foundation
Rovigo Cultura, thanks to the precious financial support of the Cariparo Foundation. The Province of Rovigo, the Veneto Region and the F. Venezze Conservatory sponsor and support Deltablues, as well as the Municipalities involved in the concerts: Rovigo, Lendinara, Rosolina, Fratta Polesine, Loreo. The Festival is created with the collaboration of Assonautica Veneto-Emilia. Slow Food, Arci, Fiab, Rovigo Jazz Club. Furthermore, the web radios RadioBlueTu of Rovigo and Stazione Blues Radio of Bologna, the magazine Il Blues, Az Blues and Rootsway. Sponsor Coop Alleanza 3.0 and Birrificio Rodigino Nebula.
For information, consult the website www.deltablues.it, send an email to [email protected], call 0425 691288, visit the Facebook pages Deltablues.it and Instagram DeltabluesRovigo,
