Since the mid-20th century, professional blues activists in nearly every European nation have been committed to championing blues music along with the artists who create it. Festivals, tour organizers, agents, specialized magazines, radio DJs, labels, distributors, clubs, etc., collectively took on the task of both promoting and preserving a truly dynamic European blues scene by bringing American artists to Europe while supporting the development of new talent within their own borders. Apart from a few scattered international partnerships between individuals, those active in promoting the blues generally worked alone within their native countries. In 2007 the Italian magazine Il Blues recognized this deficit and took the first steps toward organizing a pan-European network of blues activities, and in June 2008 the first European Blues Conference took place, in Parma, Italy, during Parma’s Rootsway Roots ’n’ Blues Food Festival. More than 70 participants from 18 countries attended the conference. In addition to typical conference activities such as networking, sharing ideas, and creating future business partnerships, those present also defined the conditions for the creation of a European Blues Union. These steps included creating a website to compile and administer blues contacts and activities throughout Europe, as well as the development of the Union’s statutes. In 2009 a delegation from four countries organized a second European Blues Conference during Norway’s Notodden Blues Festival, and in 2010 six charter members officially registered the Union in Brussels, Belgium, as European tradition would dictate. By 2010, at the third conference, in Hondarribia, Spain, the EBU presented its first European Blues Challenge, modeled after the International Blues Challenge and open to current EBU members. The EBU currently has members from 26 countries and is made up solely of volunteer, non-paid members.
