Ana
In the blues, years or even decades of "payin' dues" is the norm. Most blues musicians toil in relative obscurity, and those that have been at it a while wear their struggles like a badge of honor. By those standards, Ana Popovic's rise has been meteoric. Within five years of leaving her native Yugoslavia, the singer/guitarist has played all major European music festivals like Peer, Bishopstock and Notodden. She has shared stages with Bernard Allison, Kenny Neal and Solomon Burke and recorded with hitmaker Jim Gaines.
Perhaps most
impressive of all is her W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination for Best New
Artist of 2003 - a rare honor for a European blues artist.
Ana Popovic was born in Belgrade in 1976. Her father first introduced
her to the blues, through an extensive record collection and sessions
hosted at the family home. Ana took to the guitar and founded her first
serious band at age nineteen. Within a year, she was playing outside of
Yugoslavia and opening shows for American blues icons like Junior Wells.
By 1998, her band was doing 100 shows annually and appearing regularly
on Yugoslavian television. Her debut CD, "Hometown", provided a first
glimpse of her talents as a singer and guitarist.
In 1999, Ana relocated to the Netherlands to study jazz guitar. She
quickly became a fixture on the Dutch blues scene and soon ventured into
neighboring Germany. Ruf Records took notice and a few months later, she
was on a plane to Memphis to record her successful debut album on Ruf
Records, "Hush" (released in 2001). Since then, Ana's star has been
rising like mercury on a Mississippi summer's day. With "Comfort to the
Soul" (2003), Popovic took her burgeoning career to the next level, she
delivered another diverse package of blues, rock, soul and jazz. The
album makes one thing clear. Ana Popovic is not about recycling worn-out
clichés. Her blues are fresh, positive and genre-expanding.
Ana Popovic proves with her own songs and fresh
interpretations that she is an excellent and expressive guitarist with a
powerful voice. The most impressive aspect of her music is its diversity
of techniques and styles - smoking electric funk slide guitar, jazzy
instrumentals and tight blues grooves.
Ana's performance at our festival this year is something that you do not want to miss.
Check out her website www.anapopovic.com