Winnipeg is hosting world-class blues Christian musician Glenn Kaiser alongside Robert Andreas in an evening of gospel blues.
Glenn Kaiser is a Blues musician from Chicago, IL. He's toured his music all across Canada over his colourful music career.
"I started playing when I was 12," says Kaiser. "I went through drugs, alcohol, addiction and I got to a place where I did everything but shooting [using needles]. It's a very long story but Jesus showed up in my life in technicolor."
Robert Andreas is an up-and-coming Blues musician from Winnipeg. Andreas was born in Romania and grew up in Italy. Roughly five years ago he received one of Kaiser's CD's at church and he fell in love with the way Kaiser played gospel blues.
"For me as a younger blues musician, he's an inspiration," says Andreas. "When I heard the way he was writing his music, he just speaks from the heart."
Roughly 40 per cent of the Psalms written in the Bible are laments, a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.
"Blues, to me, is one of those minority, disregarded by many Christians, music styles, when our own Bible, that's the biggest category of lyrics in the worship hymnal of Israel," says Kaiser.
Blues around the World
Andreas was raised in church, growing up with a grandfather who was a Baptist preacher in Romania. When he was just seven years old, Andreas heard the blues on the radio for the first time and he was immediately drawn to it.
"I had a guitar that I got from the garbage," says Andreas. "My neighbour passed away and they were cleaning her apartment and they put this Yamaha in the garbage. I grew up [in Romania] pretty poor at the time. So I got the guitar and brought it home and started to obsess about how to play like BB King and Eric Clapton."
While Andreas and his mom moved to Italy during his adolescence, he fell away from his Christian faith. Then he moved to Winnipeg, Man.
"I was trying to master my English and I met former pastor Jacob Friesen from Morrow Gospel Church. We created the Saturday Night Blues Cafe."
There is a Gospel Blues evening concert coming up at Morrow Gospel on Nov. 2 at 7:00 p.m. Both Kaiser and Andreas will play the blues as well as share their testimonies. Tickets are available ahead of time only and can be purchased here.