1996 Cuby is Back
Cuby is back! The three businessmen and fans Henk Aa
(Beaphar-Raalte), Johan Derksen and Jan Lagendijk start the
foundation ‘Cuby is Back’. A theater tour follows and
Harry Muskee, Erwin Java, John Lagrand, completed by ex-Blizzards
Hans Lafaille, Herman Deinum and Helmig van der Vergt attract
large crowds. ‘Cuby is Back’ is not just a reunion. The
current line-up of Cuby & The Blizzards, formed on the
foundation of the old top line-up, continues to perform. It is a
tight band of very professional musicians, who are not just
playing songs from the past, but also new songs, reflecting the
sentiments of the present. Besides performing in clubs and
festivals, the band does an annual theater tour.
1997
On 31 January and 1 February , Travelling
with the Blues is recorded live at blues club "The
Lantaarn" in Hellendoorn. The songs on this album and released in March '97 are an
overview of Harry’s blues career.
1998
The album Dancing Bear
is released, a contemporary product on which Cuby & The
Blizzards dares to differ from the traditional
12-bar blues.
Title song ‘Dancing Bear’, also released as a single,
is about the cruelty to animals in Turkey and other Asian countries, something animal lover
and WSPA supporter Harry Muskee despises. this CD has
been recorded in april '98 in the recordingstudios of the Dutch rockgroup Normaal..
Citaat Muskee:
The
re-establishment of Cuby and the Blizzards was never meant as a reunion. We want
to do with Cuby common new things. This cd contains not only blues. There are
also songs in the New-Orleanstyle and some "real" songs. When I was writing
"Dancing Bear", the song,
I thought about a global blues. A blues from the mississippi Delta to
the plains of Turkey. I'ts a blues about
what people do to each other and the
animals of this globe. And how they treat
Mother Earth. It's not a pretty picture
but all too often the truth.
After a gig in Vlaardingen some of Erwin Java’s and Herman
Deinum’s instruments are stolen, like Erwin’s unique 1962 Fender Stratocaster.
It was a present from his (deceased) father who bought it from a
(sick and deceased) neighbour. It is a guitar with high emotional
value, which made Erwin the guitarist he is now. Fortunately,
this valuable guitar, and the The Rose guitar made by Ronald
Rosenau, are both retrieved.
1999
On Friday June 4th Cuby & The Blizzards plays at
Diligentia in The Hague without John Lagrand, who is hospitalized
in the Westend hospital with a broken leg. Very special during
this gig is a guest performance by Eelco Gelling, who plays two
songs. The cooperation with harmonica talent John Lagrand comes
to an end due to personal circumstances.
Just before the new millennium, a special project takes place. To
celebrate the 180th anniversary of the Johan Willem
Friso band, five unique millennium concerts are organized. The
JWF band performs with Cuby & The Blizzards, Guus Meeuwis
& Vagant, het Mannenkoor Albartros, piano player Cor Bakker
and violin player Adriaan Stoet. The JWF band and Cuby & The
Blizzards perform ‘Another Land’ (dedicated to the
recently deceased Rob Hoeke), ‘Window of my Eyes’,
‘Night Train’ and ‘Travelling with the Blues’ together.
2000
Harry Muskee’s 35th anniversary in music. To
celebrate this the CD box Blues
Traveller is released. It is proof of the great
significance of Harry Muskee for Dutch music. Always going his
own way, never taking the easy road. It is a 35th
anniversary blues career with ups and downs.
The anniversary album Hotel
Grolloo is recorded at "The Amer" bar in Amen.
It is a very special album with Normaal’s Bennie Jolink,
Barrelhouse’s Tineke Schoenmaker, De Dijk’s Huub van
der Lubbe, Skik’s Daniel Lohues and The Golden
Earring’s Barry Hay performing old songs of Muskee,
completed by four new songs. The recording is filmed for a TV
documentary called The Last Secret. On September 26th,the
album is officially presented to Harry Muskee during a
celebratory concert at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. The concert DVD
will be released at the end of 2002.
2001
The exhibition "Groeten uit Grollo" is initiated by the
foundation for Maintenance of Cultural Heritage Harry Muskee.
More than 3000 people visit this exhibition, with Cuby and the
Blizzards as its main theme, at the band’s former farm
(Voorstreek 4). The governor of Drenthe, Relus ter Beek, opens
the exhibition.
2002/2003
‘Dancing Bear’ is re-released. Together with the TROS,
the Red Bullet studio, Skik and Beaphar, a benefit concert and TV show are organized for
the Bear Forest in Rheden. The theater tour is dedicated to John
Lee Hooker, who died in 2001. Concerts are also scheduled for
Curacao and South Africa.
Tribute
Harry Muskee (born 10 Juni 1941) received in 1992 the culture award of the
province of Drenthe. More than 30 jaar he has been active as a blues musician.
As no one else he sang the blues, that linked up very well with the feeling of
young country-people. In spite of fame at home and abroad he stayed "a
plain boy from Drenthe." Muskee as a musician, a composer and a songwriter
is highly qualified. He enriched the music world with an extensive and highgrade
repertoire of blues music. The music of Muskee is characterized by a nearly
self-evident simplicity in combination with a strong rendering emotional
strength. Moreover his own original and contemporary creative power is mixed in
a subtle way with the respect for the roots of blues in Mississippi and the
inspiration based on those roots. (authority: nomination committee id advice
culture awards.)
Nationally and internationally Muskee met acknowledgement. Nationally he is
seen as "the Godfather" of the"Dutch Blues" Many times
Muskee presented as "Master of Ceremonies" the yearly Blues Estafette
in Utrecht. In Groningen was a yearly event, where the most promising bluesband
of the Netherlands received the Muskee Award.
As
a consequence of the adjudication of the culture award the idea arose Harry
immortulize in bronze as a tribute to an artist, who kept one's foothold in the
world of the blues. This bust of Muskee is located in Grollo, the village that
is connected with Muskee, and is made by the artist Gerda van den Bosch.
At the initiative of a number of blues lovers, Governor Relus ter
Beek reveals a statue of Harry Muskee.
Other Bluessites
Go for more information about blues and blues concerts/festivals
Friends of Muskee (C + B)
Send
me an email, if you want to receive the poster on A4 size or if you want to be
placed on the maillist of "Friends of
Muskee".
You can also sign my guestbook 
You can click on it
.
