Dirty Boogie Rockabilly Festival brings timeless sounds and styles of the 1950s to Hong Kong
Travel back to the post-war years at a mini-festival drawing on the enduring music and fashions of those upbeat times
The world was probably the happiest it’s ever been during the post-war 1950s, so it’s not really a surprise that the era’s signature musical genres such as rockabilly still have enthusiastic followers all over the world.
We’re not just looking through rose-tinted glasses – the enduring popularity of rockabilly also comes down to its irresistible rhythms and upbeat, innocent themes, delivered with twangy, reverb-laden guitar riffs.
There’s always been plenty of love for the sound around Asia too, and local followers are now getting ready for the fourth edition of the Dirty Boogie Rockabilly Festival, to be held on November 14 at Grappa’s Cellar in Central. The event will bring together four Asian bands, with sounds ranging from traditional rockabilly to swing, blues and a more local take on the genre: Cantobilly.
Born when blues, country and hillbilly music came together in the early 1950s in the southern US, rockabilly owes its heritage and longevity to some of the era’s most influential acts, including Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Anyone looking for an alternative to the monotonous music emanating from Lan Kwai Fong will discover a range of unpretentious, upbeat acts at the retro mini-festival
After the 1950s, the genre went underground until it was revived in the ’80s by the likes of the Stray Cats. It then mutated by adopting punk rock and horror themes into the heavier offshoot called psychobilly, as performed by bands such as The Cramps and The Meteors.