The Blues School, founded by Gabriel Grätzer, Mauro Diana, and Gabriel Cabiaglia, celebrated its 25th anniversary with an emotional show at Lucille that was much more than a concert: it was an open class on the history of the blues, from its deepest roots to its expression in Argentina. Musicians such as Roberto Porzio, Gabriel Cabiaglia, and Nacho Ladisa also took the stage. Guitarist Julio Fabiani evoked the elegant style of T-Bone Walker with 'Tell Me What the Reason,' while Pilar Padín lent her voice to Koko Taylor's 'Wang Dang Doodle' and Ray Charles's 'Drown in My Own Tears.' Towards the end, the history of the blues intersected with its arrival in Argentina. The singer and pianist Cristina Dall sat at the keyboard and revived the spirit of Las Blacanblus with three consecutive songs: 'Depre Blues,' 'No quiero tu dinero,' and 'El paso.' The finale brought all the musicians together on stage for a medley that included 'Sweet Home Chicago' and 'Estamos haciendo las cosas bien' by Easy Babies, in homage to Mauro Diana, the school's co-founder, who could not be present due to health reasons. 25 years after its birth—and in the midst of a present once again marked by economic uncertainty, confrontations, and rising unemployment—the Blues School once again demonstrated that the genre born of pain and resistance continues to find an echo in Argentina. With its melismas and nasal intonations, that ancestral call marked the starting point of the musical journey. He then invited guitarist Juan Codazzi, and with two guitars, they performed Tommy Johnson's 'Maggie Campbell Blues' and Memphis Minnie's 'Frisco Town,' two classics of the Mississippi Delta rural blues. As happened in 2001, the blues once again became a refuge, a memory, and a form of resistance. One of the most successful moments came when Grätzer and Codazzi began 'Night Time Is the Right Time.' The song served as a sonic metaphor for the genre's evolution: from rural to urban, from acoustic to electric sound. As the song progressed, Miguel Ángel Romeo on drums, Lorenzo Padín on bass, and Matías Muriete on guitar gradually joined in, transforming the musical texture. The second part of the night delved into the Chicago electric blues. An instrumental tribute to Walter Horton, 'Walter's Boogie' with Ximena Monzón on harmonica, paved the way for classics like Jimmy Reed's 'You Don't Have to Go' and Howlin' Wolf's 'Smokestack Lightnin,' sung with intensity by Darío Soto. Singer Darío Soto contributed a spiritual nuance with 'Down by the Riverside,' while Leo Caruso paid homage to the piano tradition with a majestic version of 'St. Since then, it has gone through recurring crises, changes of era, and even the pandemic, but it has managed to establish itself as one of the most important training spaces dedicated to the genre in the country. The celebration was guided by Grätzer, who acted as master of ceremonies and began the evening a cappella with a 'cornfield holler,' a primitive form of rhythmic and expressive singing of African roots that slaves used in the fields of the southern United States to communicate and alleviate their work. For an hour and a half, with the hall full, the stage became a sort of musical timeline on which the institution's alumni and teachers paraded. The anniversary is no small detail if one considers the context in which the school was born. It opened its doors in 2000, on the eve of the social and economic explosion that would leave its mark on Argentina.
