Europas Blues Senter awarded American prize
Situated in Notodden, Europas Blues Senter was recently awarded ”Keeping the Blues Alive Award” by The Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee. Europas Blues Senter was the first institution outside the United States to receive it.
”I gives me a chill when I realise what we are rewarded. The Blues Foundation has great authority in the field”, says Sigurd Sandvin, chairman for Europas Blues Senter to the Norwegian
Broadcasting Company.
“It is a incredible honour for us to receive the price, which is awarded once a year”.
Europas Blues Senter is the 2004 recipient of the Historic Preservation prize. Each year, the prize is given “to individuals and organisations that have contributed greatly to the growth and vitality of blues music.”
Europas Blues Senter in Notodden was opened in August 1997. It consists of a blues library and a museum, and they are the first steps towards what will become a documentation centre for blues. The centre is a by-product of the Notodden Blues festival, arranged every year since 1988. Notodden blues festival is one of the most visited festivals in Norway, 20 000 tickets were sold this year.
The Blues Foundation was founded in 1980, and its mission “is to preserve blues history, to celebrate blues excellence and to support blues education”.
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