BOB BROZMAN
On April 23rd 2013, our dear friend Bob unexpectedly left us. We had the pleasure to work with him, sharing long talks, many adventures, and lots of laughter. It was a huge loss: Bob wasn’t only a musical genius, but also had an intelligence, humanity and irony that nowadays are always harder to find.
There are not enough words to comment on this sad event. What we can do is confirm that his memory and his philosophy of life will always live with us, illuminating and our musical paths. The closeness and relationship with his wife Haley Sage Robertson Brozman will continue forever, just as Sarzana – that he had chosen as his second homeland – will always be devoted to him.
We invite all those who are spending stupid words to sully his memory and the greatness of his humanity to respect a dutiful silence. Bob was a great artist and a great man, unattainable for many.
For this reason we will never remove his biography and his presentation on our website; for us it’s like waiting for the next phone call or the next message, ready to go on tour together once more for a new musical adventure.
We send a warm greeting and heartfelt thanks to everyone who contacted us showing gratitude and love for his musical and life lesson. We will soon publish some of the moving greetings that we received.
Goodbye Bob
THE KING OF NATIONAL RESOPHONIC GUITAR
We are proud to represent this great musician, entertainer, ethnomusicologist in Italy.
Born in New York in 1954, Bob discovered National resophonic guitars at the age of 14. Since then his ethnomusical studies have focused on this instrument, from its roots in the Delta Blues to Hawaiian music and beyond.
Over the years his passion for resophonic instruments has led him to own an incredible collection, and to be recognized unanimously as the greatest living connoisseur of the subject.
Master of blues, slides, hot jazz, Hawaiian and Caribbean music, and great researcher of musical cultures in the world, he plays not only blues and Hawaiian, African, Indian, Japanese music, but also that of the Reunion Islands and Papua-New Guinea. Across continents he always meets extraordinary musicians, producing music sessions that are memorable for their energy, musical ideas – all in respect of authenticity and diversity. It’s an endless journey around the world that blends music and cultures in an explosive mixture, involving the listener from the very first moment.
In one year, he performed more than 200 concerts all over the world, with a spirit of self-production both in shows and in record productions, far from the big and discounted commercial business.
His activity also includes collaborations with numerous music magazines, radios, television programs and film productions.
Bob Brozman is one of those rare artists whose musical energy combined with the depth of knowledge of the instrument manages to involve spectators from all over the world in a mixture of amazement, comedy and participation in enthralling rhythms. After hearing one of his live performances, you can be sure you will never forget him.
“American tradition was my first great passion: a great school of art and culture. But the world travels too quickly to be sentimental about the past. Then, a few years ago, I started traveling the world and discovered equally seductive artistic and cultural realities, which I am living now, in the present.”
“ …sometimes, given my physical appearance not exactly like an American, I get asked where I come from. I like to answer “from a nation of my own, where a utopian democracy reigns; where everyone plays and where there is respect for every culture and tradition”…”
“The highest forms of music are those that arise from a sort of scream of the human soul. They are everywhere, even in western culture – just look at the trumpet of Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis, the guitar of Django Reinhardt and Jimi Hendrix. In this way music becomes a universal language. Indeed, musical communication starts from the muscles of arms and fingers. It is even faster than singing and speaking: it is a direct communication between brain and muscles …”
“…travels around the world and the encounter with disparate sound universes, were all human and cultural experiences before they were artistic ones … Traveling the world made me fall in love again with the mankind. Today I consider myself an anthropologist, a scientist of music and string instruments…”
WWW.BOBBROZMAN.COM
MAIN EVENTS
Vancouver Folk Festival
Belgium Rhythm’n’Blues Festival
Montreal Int. Jazz Festival
Lincon Center Blues Festival N.Y.
Barcelona Blues Festival
Fuji Television Network, Japan
French-German BI-National TV
Portland World Music Festival
Dorpfeesten, Holland
Hot Jazz Festival PT Townsend, WA
University of Texas, Austin
Atlant High Museum, GA
Folkstudio, Roma
Chicago Blues Festival
Paleo Festival, Nyon, Switzerland
Philadelphia Folk Festival
Victoria Jazz Festival
Winnipeg Folk Festival
Womad Festival, England
Edmonton Folk Festival
BBC Television, England
Intern. Guitar Festival, Martinique
American Radio Company,
Acoustic Guitar International Meeting, Italia
London Music Show
Guitar Passion Festival, Nice, France
San Diego Folk Festival
Dobro Festival, Slovak Rep.
200 concerts in U.K. ’91-‘2000
200 concerts in France ’92-’94
African Tour 2002
Australian Tour 2002-2003
Nuova Guinea Tour 2003
Australian Tour 2004
UK, Holland Tour 2004
Canadian, Australian. Italian Tour 2006
European Tour 2009
Selected Shows in USA, Scandinavian, Germany Tour 2010
European Tour 2011
Italy, Romania, Scandinavia, France, Selected Shows in USA 2012
PRESS REVIEW
“Undoubtedly a singular musician, a guitarist of unmistakable virtuosity … a six-string teacher full of energy on and off stage …”
– LE MONDE, PARIS
“He exceeds the limits of the imagination!”
– WINNIPEG FOLK FESTIVAL PROGRAM
“A true artist, Brozman symbolizes genius and humanity … ”
– VANGUARDIA; BARCELONA
“He carved his name in fire letters on Mount Rushmore of American slide guitarists!”
– ROCK AND FOLK MAGAZINE, PARIS
“A complete performer who captures the audience from start to finish…. hard to imagine a better show”.
– AUSTIN AMERICAN_STATESMAN, TEXAS
“An authentic encyclopedia of primitive blues in the world, presented with virtuosity and incomparable humor…”
– EL PAIS; MADRID
“If music existed in other universes, Bob would be Earth’s representative for interplanetary collaboration”
– FARSIDE MUSIC, UK/JAPAN