Phillip Kakaza Live music
Someone has passed a buck to me – it seemed like it when I was assigned to cover the American blues muso, Ronnie Peterson show at the Blues Room.
The message came like a razor-sharp command. As if a twentysomething lad knew much about blues music. The little bit of knowledge at the back of my head has it that the blues was one of the first music genres to reflect black people’s experience of freedom in the United States.
Though emancipation did not bring them economic empowerment, blues music gave them freedom to travel. Black men took to the road in search of work. The journeys made on foot and by train gave rise to the figure of male blues singer – a black man with a guitar travelling the countryside singing about his life; this rural genre became known as country blues.
Much in the same way, the Blues Room in Village Walk, Sandown, brings you a modern version of the blues from Tuesday to Saturday nights. The best international and South African blues bands play four shows a night.
To reach this cosy venue you have to go down a flight of steps – inside is the basement-like room cluttered with chairs and tables. It’s small, but you sink comfortably into a chair as one of the little tables that can stand under the other’s belly is placed before you, and you can make an order from a menu of international a la carte.
Also on offer is an extensive list of international and local wines. Reservations for dinner are strongly recommended, we were told as we were ushered to a guest table.
Before we could place an order, the American blues muso Ronnie Peterson was already strutting his stuff, doing some of the songs from his new release Pass it On (on sale at the Blues Room). The two dance floors which wrap around the stage on two different levels provide the audience with sufficient space to dance up a storm.
Peterson’s background in this music genre goes back to when he was a teenager. Influenced by BB King, he started listening to King’s album Live and Well at the age of ten. At the tender age of 17 he was hired by the legendary blues singer Latimore to become his touring and recording guitarist. He spent his college days playing with the greatest names in blues and soul music, including Johnny Taylor, Tyrone Davis and BB King.
His friendship with BB King continued and at King’s Jerusalem show in 1996 he joined him in When Love Comes To Town, the song King recorded with U2.
Peterson is a skilful guitarist and vocalist who mesmerises his audience with skills honed over many years of live and recorded performances.
International acts over the years at the Blues Room are the main attraction for a regular clientele (mostly white middle-age audiences).
The co-owner, an ex-New Yorker and guitarist George Worthmore, tells me that the international acts mostly offer the audience a melting pot of blues, soul, jazz and sometimes African-styled sounds.
In fact, Gito Baloi once played his hypnotic mix of African and Caribbean styles there. Though the atmosphere is upscale and adult, it is still casual and very friendly.
Ronnie Peterson is on at the Blues Room, Village Walk, Sandown, from Tuesday to Saturday nights. For dinner reservations call 784-5527