A performance at the festival |
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| Location(s) | Porretta, Italy |
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| Years active | 1988 - Present |
| Founded by | Graziano Uliani |
| Date(s) | Mostly the third week in July - July 22–25, 2010. |
| Genre | Soul Music |
| Website | Official website |
The Porretta Soul Festival is a soul music festival that usually takes place in the third week of July in Rufus Thomas Park in Porretta Terme, which in the province of Bologna.
The festival was started on December 10, 1987 by Graziano Uliani, a passionate soul music fan, who, after attending the events in Macon, Georgia commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the death of Otis Redding, decided to dedicate a festival in his honour.
Thanks to some fortunate encounters, Uliana has been able to bring to Porretta most of the major soul band in the world. Porretta now has a street dedicated to Otis Redding and the park where the Porretta Soul Festival is held is named Rufus Thomas. After more than 20 years, the Porretta Soul Festival is now part of the geography of soul music and is considered the European showcase of the Memphis Sound. The festival is associated with the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis and the Center For Southern Folklore in Memphis.
Rufus & Carla Thomas, Solomon Burke, Howard Tate, Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Sam Moore, Irma Thomas, The Memphis Horns, LaVern Baker, Millie Jackson, Otis Clay, Ann Peebles, Mavis Staples, Booker T. & the M.G.s, The Neville Brothers, Chaka Khan, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Joe Simon, Mable John, Bar-Kays, Harvey Scales.