Bluesfest to rock Windsor this week

When Ana Popovic plays it, the blues is world music.

The 32-year-old Serbian brings an international flavour and a sense of social justice to her brand of rough-and-tumble, rocking blues.

Born in Belgrade, Popovic is a survivor of the hardline Slobodan Milosevic regime -- she was 21 when the so-called Butcher of the Balkans was ousted from power.

It was music, she said, that kept her and her family buffered from the violence. She firmly believes in its healing power.

"I sing about the things that matter to me," Popovic said. "It's not even something I think about."

In her song, Hold On, which appears on her most recent CD, Still Making History, Popovic relates how life in Yugoslavia -- which she sometimes refers to as a "Third World country" -- was one of exclusion.

"We're kept outside most of the mainstream events in the world," she said. "It was hard even for those inside the country to express themselves freely."

On another original, Shadow After Dark, Popovic advises her generation to "Trust no shadow after dark."

Her subjects are a refreshing change from the recriminative lovers who often dominate blues songs.

On Saturday, Popovic joins Canadian bluesman David Wilcox as one of the headliners at the 14th annual Bluesfest International at Windsor's Riverfront Festival Plaza.

Opening Thursday with a rare appearance by Taj Mahal, Bluesfest continues through Sunday. Among other big names over the weekend are Rick Derringer, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush, and Richie Havens on Friday, and Larry McCray, Steve Burnside, and a Jeff Healey tribute band on Sunday.

Popovic spent her first 22 years in Belgrade before moving to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to study jazz and world music. She still lives there.

"I learned about blues from my father," she said. "He has a huge album collection and we'd have friends over all the time for jams."

Blues is something of a family tradition, in fact. Her father Milutin, a graphic designer, was also highly regarded as a guitarist and bass player. Later, when Popovic started up her own blues band in Holland and started touring Europe, her father often joined on as her guitar tech.

"He's one of the few people I trust with my guitars," she said.

Popovic formed her first blues band while still a teenager in Belgrade. Eventually, she toured throughout Yugoslavia and appeared on national TV several times.

After her move to Holland, she again put together a band, eventually drawing the attention of Ruf Records. In 2000, she travelled to Memphis to record her first CD, Hush!, named after her band in Belgrade. The producer was veteran Jim Gaines, who has worked with Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Luther Allison.

The following year, Popovic appeared on the Jimi Hendrix tribute CD, Blue Haze, performing Belly Button Window. Bernard Allison, who made a guest appearance on her debut CD, invited her to join his tour in 2001. She joined Walter Trout in 2002 in a Hendrix tribute band for a tour of Europe.

Her second album for Ruf, Comfort to the Soul, was released in 2003, the same year she was invited to tour with Solomon Burke. Comfort to the Soul was also nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Award.

A third album, Ana! Live in Amsterdam, in 2005 was followed by an invitation to perform on Blues Cruise 2006, the first European to receive the honour. She was also nominated by BluesWax magazine as best blues guitarist, joining Tab Benoit and Joe Bonamassa as a nominee.

Her latest album, Still Making History (2007), is her first for the California label, Delta Groove Music, and features production by John Porter and David Z, who separately have worked with a host of musicians, from Jonny Lang and Keb' Mo, to Bonnie Raitt and Prince.

The music reflects Popovic's wide-ranging tastes, from world beat and jazz, to soul, R&B and even reggae.

Blues, though, is her abiding passion, and Popovic plans to keep it in the family for the foreseeable future. In early May, she just gave birth to a baby boy, Luuk, a Dutch name pronounced "Luke," whom she takes with her on tour.

In fact, she performed right up until she was seven months pregnant.

"He's already into the blues," she said. "He was having a great time when I was out playing with Jonny Lang."