Blues on Beale (2022) Film Review
It’s unfair how some forms of art are subjects of competition. From films to books, it’s very interesting how we can validate some product over another. After all, every consideration is subjective and that which fails to inject some emotion to the evaluation gets lost in the inert corners of cold objectivity. It also happens with music. But what I got today from the insanely cool documentary called Blues on Beale, is a spirit of kindness and community that isn’t often seen in the music industry. And if it’s seen, it’s not as warm as the music I evidenced today. Yes, I believe roots have tons to do with this effect.
But there’s more to it than the historical value of the contest addressed in Blues on Beale. The International Blues Challenge is a very important event related to blues. It adds weight to the need for preserving the values and history of a very unique music genre that admits countless points of exploration and personality.
Nevertheless, in the IBC there’s also a collective sense of soul that’s very well transmitted with Blues on Beale. Sure, competition is important. But I like to think of it as a magical gathering where the most important blues artists are able to come together and share the spirit of a music that’s mysterious, joyful and eternal.
With the documentary Blues on Beale I felt the presence of magicians. Artists that use a medium to evolve in ways that we don’t always believe to be possible. Blues never sounds the same, even if you think it does. You just have to dig very deep in the basics of the genre. But Blues on Beale isn’t a history lesson, nor a music masterclass. It depicts the journey of 10 blues artists that have to compete in the Challenge that takes place on Beale Street in Memphis, TN. Throughout the whole journey, they will be in the same place where their influences played at some point. They will be alongside the best blues artists in the world, and there’s a chance they can become one of them.
The film is never an emotionally draining chronicle where frustration can dominate a character. It’s a set of celebrations that have more to do with the universal aspect of blues. People from more than 10 countries are able to display their knowledge and talent in the stage where B.B. King once played. If this doesn’t sound like a dream come true, then you just have to look up “blues music” in whatever platform you use.
Don’t get me wrong. The value of such an event is directly linked to where the blues comes from. This is the music that comes from the pain of those African American ancestors who were deprived of every sense of expression possible. If today, the whole world can come together and understand the roots of their expression channel, then I think we are progressing. Even if it “only has to do with music” and not the reality that takes place outside the bar.
There’s a line in the film that’s very wise, and it represents the idealism that we could obtain from understanding the communal aspect of a festival like the International Blues Challenge: We need connection. Desperately.
We can find that in a raw style of music like the blues. Few films translate the importance of that music genre like Blues on Beale. Not because it’s a historical document, but a beautiful display of a type of universality that we need to adopt, no matter where we live, the color of our skin, or the language we speak.
