Artistic area
With the subtitle "Spirit and Colours of the Blues", the Festival produces a wide program based on blues, rock blues, rhythm & blues, gospel, or folk, including French artists who have got the spirit and feeling of the blues, with more than fifty venues of musicians coming from all over the world (USA, Europe, Africa, South America, Russia....).
The program also includes International Blues Challenge contest winners, awarded by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, as well as the winners of some French national blues competition in "solo-duo" and "bands" categories.
There is also a section entitled "Tremplin Blues sur Seine" that gives an opportunity to new groups without CDs distributed in the market, to participate in a contest where a panel 15 judges from a representative sample of the French blues press select the six finalists (from more than 70 registrations) who will participate at the live final act program in the beginning of the festival program. 9 prizes are delivered to the awarded band that give them the opportunity to play in seven prestigious festivals (International FestiBlues of Montreal...) or to be recognize by blues magazines or blues radios. A 1,000 euros prize is also given to the best French singing blues artist. The festival produce each year a CD with two tracks of the six finalist groups and the bands selected to compete at the International Blues Challenge from Memphis (see the International cultural initiatives section) . Produced in 1.200 ex, this CD is freely distributed by the festival to an important selection of festivals, concerts venues, labels and recording studios.
Other activities include some original initiatives crossing blues and other art expression and directly linking with the inhabitants as for example a "Blues and Classical Music Meeting", a Broadway inspired show entitled "Blind Lemon Blues" or theatre plays made by workers in different factories, such as "501 Blues" done by Lewis factory workers who were in process of relocation. The festival had also managed "slam blues" workshops for teenagers and illiterate mothers, exhibitions, a blues short story contest, and the creation and development of theatre shows by teenagers, such as an history of blues performed in slam, hip-hop and blues dj sessions... This show created by local youths recount the history of music from its earlier hours to rap and hip-hop, showing us that the blues is the roots of all the popular music.
See the list of the bands who had perform at the festival since 1999.
