Bai Kamara Jr & The Voodoo Sniffers nominated for Blues Blast Music Award
11 August 2020
Newsdesk
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Bai Kamara Jr.’s new album Salone, which was released earlier this year under the project name Bai Kamara Jr. & The Voodoo Sniffers, has been nominated for a Blues Blast Music Award in the category ‘Best Acoustic Blues Album’.
The nomination for this prestigious Blues award is an honour and a great achievement for Bai, the only nominee from outside of North America across all categories of this year’s competition. It is also a beautiful sign of international recognition of this particular blues album, which marks a new stage in Kamara Jr.’s career.
The 13th annual Blues Blast Music Awards are presented by the US based Blues Blast Magazine, the largest free weekly internet Blues magazine with over 38,000 Blues fan subscribers located in more than 90 countries. Their results are the largest award series where Blues fans from all over the world vote to honour the Best in contemporary Blues music.
Online voting is open until September 5, 2020. Fans can support Bai Kamara Jr. by casting their vote here.
‘to be discovered urgently’ - ROLLING STONE (France) ‘hauntingly beautiful throughout - and strongly recommended’ - BLUES BLAST (USA) ‘a totally delicious CD, one which oozes the blues and drips soul’ - FATEA (UK) ‘the best blues album of the past year’ - LIRA (Sweden)
‘‘My musical and artistic journey has now led me to this pivotal stage of my career where the Salone project (which means Sierra Leone in the Krio language) finally allows me to delve into my African roots and more specifically that of Sierra Leone, my country of origin. Never before had I had the strength to undertake this work. Salone is also the title of my new blues and roots album, and The Voodoo Sniffers is the name of my new band.
Although I was born in Sierra Leone, I have never played or made music in Africa. My first steps into theworld of music were made while at school in England. As a professional musician, it was Belgium that gave birth to me. Though I was predestined to live my childhood, adolescence and adult life between the continents of Africa and Europe, the rhytms and sounds of Africa have always lived in me.
Artistically, the making of this album (where I played all the instruments and sang all the voices) was a spiritual, joyful, refreshing and rewarding introspection. I put all my heart and soul into it. As the blues has always been at the heart of my artistic journey, it was the obvious and perfect vehicle to express my feelings and musical inspirations for this expedition into the roots of my African heritage...’‘ Bai Kamara Jr
BIOGRAPHY
A warm, funky voice, but just as sober and intimate. Bai Kamara Jr’s music is a mix of soul, blues, funk, R&B and jazz influences.
Bai Kamara Jr, son of the former Sierra Leonean ambassadress in Belgium, who grew up in the United Kingdom and has lived in Brussels for over 25 years, is a committed singer-songwriter who reveals his African origins in his music. He has shared the stage with international artists such as Habib Koité, Cassandra Wilson, Rokia Traoré, was the opening act of Vanessa Paradis’ Love Songs International Tour in 2014 (25 dates) and sang in duo with Dani Klein from Vaya Con Dios as well as being her supporting act.
His involvement with NGOs has led to a collaboration with the world star Youssou N’Dour. Two of Bai’s songs were recorded by the Spanish director Paco Torres for the film El Vuelo Del Tren (The Magic of Hope). Bai is a brilliant composer who shows his very diverse musical talent in his five albums (Living Room, Urban Gipsy, Disposable Society, This Is Home and Mystical Survivors).
His new CD Salone was released on January 24, 2020, on the German record label Moosicus / MIG Music.
