The smallest Big Blues Festival in Switzerland

Vallemaggia Magic Blues

The Vallemaggia Magic Blues is a small but incredibly big open-air festival. Not without reason is it called "the smallest Big Blues Festival in Switzerland". For four weeks from July to August, this unique musical event brings the big names of blues music (but not only!), international artists and popular local bands to the squares of the beautiful villages of the Maggia Valley. During this time there are about twenty concerts spread over ten evenings. The Vallemaggia Magic Blues is now firmly rooted in the region and has managed to earn a place among the big summer events in the Ascona-Locarno area. The festival promises great evenings under the stars to dance, have fun and enjoy the exceptional scenery.

Vallemaggia Magic Blues

  • The stars that passed through the Vallemaggia

  • The Vallemaggia Magic Blues showcase is filled with popular names of the Blues and Rhytm'n'Blues music, but not only. John Mooney, Eric Sardinas, Popa Chubby, Walter Trout, Danny Bryant, Wilko Johnson, Dana Fuchs, Stevie Cochran, Rudy Rotta, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Nick Moss, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Ten Years After, Hamburg Blues Band, Philip Fankhauser, The Two. Other genres of music are also represented: Country, Soul, Funk, Rock and Hard Rock, to name a few. Manfred Mann's Earth Band made history with the 'loudest' concert in recent years, to the point that the Cevio square sang Mighty Quinn at midnight: an incredible evening! The festival also did not fail to highlight local bands such as Freddie & The Cannonballs, Vanishing Signs, The Vad Vuc, Make Plain, Andrea Bignasca, Hotlanta and Luca Princiotta Band.

The history of Europe's longest festival

In 2002, the passion for music of Fabio Lafranchi, director of the Vallemaggia tourist office, and the expertise of Hannes Anrig, founder of JazzAscona (then still called Festa New Orleans) laid the foundations for a successful bet: to create a blues festival in Vallemaggia. At the time, Ticino had already a lot of other open-air festivals, even famous ones, but none were held in the valley. The first edition, which included only four evenings, was a success, so the organisers decided to double the number of evenings and increase it to 10 in 2004, during a period of one month. In less than five years, the festival became a point of reference for the summer in Ticino and by the time of its 10th edition was confirmed as the most important Blues event in Ticino. In 2014, in the wettest summer ever, only one evening was affected by rain. Mrs. & Mr. Weather must have particularly loved the festival. In 2018, the Vallemaggia Magic Blues faced a new challenge: it was the first edition for the new Producing Team. 2018 was a record-breaking edition full of great artists, but the 20th edition in 2022 managed to top it with a programme made up entirely of musicians who have already performed at the festival.

Il percorso museale

  • The 21st Edition

  • The 2023 edition will take place on 10 evenings from 7 July to 3 August, plus a special evening on 4 August in memory of the legendary "Open Air al Fiüm" with a “made in Ticino” programme: The Vad Vuc and the Nostran. Big names from the national and international scene will perform on the squares of Brontallo, Giumaglio, Avegno, Cevio and Maggia: Joe Valeriano and LeBurn Maddox for the Opening Night in Brontallo; Betta Blues Society, the Basel 6up Blues Band and Muddy What? for the European Blues Night; Peter Karp and Mark Johnson, Gennaro Pacelli (Edoardo Bennato's guitarist), legendary former Motörhead guitarist with his band Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons, the Colosseum, Matt Schofield, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers; and local music icons Marco Zappa Blues Friends and Marco Marchi & The Mojo Workers.

The magical villages of the Vallemaggia

The Vallemaggia Magic Blues has an exceptional setting: the picturesque and characteristic village squares of the Maggia Valley. These traditional places have preserved all the charm of history and provide a wonderful contrast to the idea of a blues concert. Small village squares where people gather to listen to their musical idols take on a whole new charm and lend themselves to surreal and beautiful situations, such as when Mighty Quinn was sung under the stars in the Piazza in Cevio.

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