Music fans will pay tribute to the late award-winning photographer Hugh Russell at a three-day festival in Belfast to “keep his memory alive”.
The Belfast City Blues Festival will see more than 300 local and international artists perform at 19 venues next week.
Festival director Séamus Ó’Néill said this year’s events are dedicated to Hugh, who was “a great champion of the festival”.
“He was there from the very first press launch, when we started off with four venues and just a handful of bands, Hugh was always there helping and supporting us,” he said.
From first meeting at school, Séamus said he crossed paths again with Hugh through work and it wasn’t long before the Irish News photographer was helping him establish a blues music festival in Belfast.
“He was always a champion of the city, even when he wasn’t in his boxing days, he was always very positive about people trying to start festivals, trying to start gigs and the arts,” said Séamus.
“He was just brilliant, not only to me, but everybody. If a new project was starting, he was always behind it.
“All you had to do was ring Hugh, and he was there, always positive.
“He was just your go to man, a brilliant person and was at all our press launches over the years, all our events and he just put everybody at ease.”
Séamus said Hugh’s commitment and contribution to the festival was evident every year, which was one of the main reasons why they wanted to pay tribute to him this year following his death last October.
“We want to keep his memory alive,” he said.
“He’s taken so many great photographs during the festivals, he went the extra mile and he was there for us.
“We didn’t have a blues festival in the city, but when I first sat down with others to start it, it has grown and grown and Hugh saw that from day one.
“Hugh had his sports fans, he had his journalistic fans, but he had music fans too. So this is us paying tribute to him and saying to his family that he was with the music guys too.
“What he did for us, he went above and beyond the call of duty.”
The festival runs from June 28-30 with internationally acclaimed artists and local talent including Doc Doherty, Pat Mc Manus, Chris Taplin Band and Dom Martin taking to the stage.
Séamus said the festival had grown in popularity since it was launched 15 years ago.
“We literally started with a meeting in the John Hewitt, a couple of us over a few pints of beer with an A4 sheet of paper,” he said.
“When it started, there were seven bands in four pubs and now we are up to 19 venues and over 60 shows, they reckon our visitors coming in top 30,000.
The Countdown Is On !!! Three Days Of Great Music With Great People In A Great City !!! What More Could You Wish For !!!
Posted by Belfast City Blues Festival on Tuesday 18 June 2024
“We try to keep it organic, we’re very conscious of promoting young bands and young talent here.
“What we are proud of is the young generation coming up, but the legacy for the festival is for it to continue.”
For information, please visit www.belfastcityblues.com
