Bob Brozman
"Wildly colourful, Bob Brozman is a man who has taken the philosophy of ‘have guitar, will travel’ to extraordinary lengths." - The Guardian
“A deftness of touch and a musical integrity that others would do well to mark before launching any other misbegotten world music vessel into the overpopulated CD seas.” - Jazzwise
8pm Sat 29th April, Crawdaddy Harcourt St D2 adm €16
Has there ever been a more promiscuous musician than Bob Brozman? Most recently he’s been in Papua New Guinea, the latest stamp on a dog eared passport that includes trips to Calcutta, Okinawa, La Reunion, Hawaii and Hawaii, China and Cuba, all of which have yielded truly memorable collaborations in the studio.
No exercise in dilettantism, this relentless traversing of the globe has seen this prolific musician track the genealogy of the guitar in all its forms, all of which distils down into his trusty National Steel guitar, his grand obsession since his early teens. His mastery of the National, and other instruments such as Hawaii’s slack key and Bolivia’s charango is unequalled, and he’s justifiably revered among guitarist of all persuasions around the world. He’s held in similar esteem in academic circles, not least for his work in ethnomusicology where he’s an authoritative source on the music of Hawaii and the Mississippi Delta.
On stage, he’s a fun loving polyglot, enthralling audiences with a bravura display of the blues, surely the planet’s only true world music, leavened with deadpan humor and brilliant insights that join the dots between disparate cultures. The guitar is an instrument that has insinuated itself into the lives of so many our fellow inhabitants, and here is its living encyclopedia, Bob Brozman, a musician who gives fusion a good name.
