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mardi 28 janvier 2014

BLUES FOUNDATION/ KEEPING THE BLUES ALIVE AWARD


JANUARY 2014/ MEMPHIS




David Evans with Gerard Herzhaft's Award.Thank you David for everything
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends of the blues,

         It is with a lot of pride that I'm receiving this Keeping the Blues Alive Award from the Blues Foundation 2014.
         It has been a long road from the first time I met the blues in France to this Memphis ceremony. I guess it started during the late 1950's when I was a teenager. Those were the Rock'n'roll years even in France and it seemed that the real blues, which was of course one of the pillars of it all, was in small doses coming to us.
         I remember when I got my first blues record. We had a party to celebrate the eve of summer holidays and we were dancing to the sounds of our 45s that were relentlessly playing on an old battered record player. And shaking the floor like we did was also shaking the records a little too far sometimes. Among those damaged was one of my 45. Behind my worried look, the friend who hosted the party offered me to swap my record with one of his. I agreed and this is how I got a Lightnin' Hopkins EP. I had never heard about such a strange name and I strongly suspected my friend to be too happy to get rid of a record he didn't like!
         At first, I didn't like it either: four titles in the same strange mood. Fortunately, I hadn't too many records at that time and Hopkins came rolling again and again on my record player. And the more I listened to this strange music the more I was hooked on it. There was anyway a strong similarity between what I was accustomed to listen to and Mr Hopkins, but he had something more. This was music with incredible feeling, depth and guts.
         " The blues got after me and never let me be...". I could have made those lyrics my own because after that encounter I became a blues fan, searching everywhere for any blues record, tracking any information about it. After that I went to England where there were more blues records, some American blues acts too. I met some other staunch blues buffs, some of whom have become rock stars... I started some tentative writing for the very few magazines that were dealing with the blues.
         A greater shock would be when the American Folk Blues Festival tours started in 1962. It was so exciting to be able to see at last bluesmen that were for me mostly just names on records... Suddenly, John Lee Hooker was moaning his blues just behind me and he was still quite young! Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Big Joe Williams, Sleepy John Estes, T-Bone Walker and many more were playing and singing the blues for real!
         At that time, it was very easy to meet and chat with those artists, especially when you were bringing them a bottle of Cognac. Then I discovered that those who, for me, were Mozarts and Beethovens were fighting for bread and butter in their home country and were not very often recognized as artists. And one thing that was particularly stunning was the impression that I already had met those people through their records... The music was great and full of feeling because the musicians had lived exceptional experiences and had the ability to share them with us through their blues.
         I then decided to try to bring them the recognition they so much deserved. This was how I began to write books and articles about the blues and the bluesmen, searching everywhere, meeting other researchers, going to the USA first in 1968, then in 1973 and after that quite regularly, gaining two Fullbright Grants for my studies in 1979 and 1985.
         Many people helped me to understand the real soul of the blues and I would like to express them my full gratitude: David Evans who brought me in the juke joints of the Delta, an unforgettable experience, was certainly one of the most crucial of those helpers; Barry Lee Pearson, Bob Koester, A.E. Schroeder, Kenneth Goldstein, Bill Mitchell, Jim Griffith and too many generous others to be fully cited.
         I also would like to thank all those who made it possible for me to receive this award today, particularly my friend Jacques Périn, founder of the Soul Bag Magazine, my brother Cisco who was here in Memphis two years ago, France Blues and Jean Guillermo who were so instrumental for my "cause" and of course all of you here at the Blues Foundation who, year after year, act strongly for the blues to be considered as a major art form.
         Thank you, deeply and sincerely, to you all.

Gérard HERZHAFT, Memphis, 24 Janvier 2014

21 commentaires:

  1. Gerard, very big congrats for the Keeping the Blues Alive Award 2014 from the Blues Foundation !! and for the amazing work on this blog!

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  2. Gerard:
    Congratulations on receiving this much deserved recognition from the Blues community. Thank you for your hard work and looking forward to benefiting for many more years of your efforts.

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  3. Gerard:
    Also congratulations on being recognized for all of your work. Having been introduced to the blues in 1960, I know that it has not always been easy to keep music listeners excited about this great art form. I can tell from your many posts how important this is to you and how much you love to share. I look forward to many more opportunities to benefit from your knowledge and passion.

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  4. Congratulations Gerard. A thoroughly deserved award in my opinion in recognition for your hard work particularly in Europe through the years.

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  5. Bravo Gérard, Amplement mérité. Voilà 25 ans que vous guidez mes pas dans la découverte de ces musiques qui ont changé ma vie. Et je ne suis pas le seul ! On vous lit, on vous écoute avec un plaisir immense et un intérêt jamais déçu. Voilà, ce devait être dit aussi en français ! BIen à vous. Richard (LYON)

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  6. Bravo Gérard, sincères félicitations! Voilà un KBA amplement mérité, et, si je peux me permettre, "long overdue" !

    René Malines

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  7. Congratulations Gerard on receiving the Award for your work in promoting the blues and making it accessible through your blog. Also I enjoyed reading on how you first heard the blues and how it snowballed from there. I think we all owe our thanks to your old friend who swapped the Lightnin' Hopkins record with you ... image if it had been a Perry Como single.

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  8. Félicitations pour cette distinction et cet award, oh combien mérité; et abreuve nous encore longtemps de ta plume pertinente, et de tes raretés discographiques, comme dans ce blog.
    Hervé Cochard

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  9. Congratulations for your well deserved award!!

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  10. Congratulations Gerard!
    Rob Ford

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  11. congrats and thanks for everything!

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  12. Congratulations, Gerard for this well-deserved award! Could you tell in how many languages your books have been translated?

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    Réponses
    1. Thanks. I've published around 40+ books, essays and novels in French of course. About half of them have been translated in other languages: english, german, spanish, portuguese, czec, turc, hungarian, romanian, italian and some more I guess...

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  13. Congratulations and thanks for your great work . We are very lucky to have your writings and all you did for the Blues , this blog is like " le cerise sur le gateau " .

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  14. Merci à vous tous qui, sur ce blog ou directement par mail (et même par téléphone) m'ont témoigné leur sympathie et leur appréciation.
    Thanks to you all who on this blog, directly on my mailbox (and even by phone) have taken the time to let me know their appreciation and sympathy.

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  15. Hi Gerard, I've been traveling this past week so have only just now visited your blog and read the great news about this award. Congratulations, you certainly deserve this. Thanks for all your efforts and please keep up the good work.

    Bon Mac.

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  16. ...nothing else I can add to all comments above, I completely agree with all said; but I wanted to show my gratitude to you, and to your effort in avoiding the Blues going down the drain (have you noticed young people don't know a thing nor care about it ?)(I'm 51... and trying to make my 17-yr old daughter get interested in the Blues --starting little by little). AND thanks for your incredible thoroughness in dates, personnel, etc., so necessary in this genre.
    Cheers from a humble follower of your blog in Madrid, Spain.
    P.S: Just envy you for having been able to chat with all those Blues giants as you've told here. Aaargh!

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    Réponses
    1. Muchas Gracias, Senor Fourcade! Be sure at that time it was very easy to chat and drink with and follow those great bluesmen who are now historical legends. Outside a small group of fans, they were not considered as real musicians or artists! I saw Muddy Waters in Paris behind 25 people... And don't envy me at all. It just means that I was already there 50 years ago...

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  17. Félicitations Mr Herzaft;Je suis extremement heureux que votre travail que j'apprecie depuis la fin des années 70 soit récompensé.Je regrette qu'il y ait peu de médiatisation .JP Verger

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  18. As someone who has just found your site may i offer you my congratulations

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