The Blue Forty Five + the story of blues
The concert is part of a blues workshop for diatonic harmonica:
Traditional Blues Playing Styles – Workshop with Adam Sikora
11–13 December 2026
Kapelle 99, Berlin
The Blue Forty Five and the story of blues with Axel Küstner
12 December 2026, 7 pm
Venue: Kapelle 99, Boxhagener Straße 99, 10245 Berlin
€22, reduced admission €18
With his new band, The Blue Forty Five, harmonica player Adam Sikora remains true to country blues. Like no other, Sikora adapts the traditional playing techniques of icons such as Sonny Terry and Billy Bizor, whilst performing his own songs and modern interpretations.
The Blue Forty Five are accompanied by Axel Künstner. In the 1980s, this blues expert set out to follow in the footsteps of the old blues masters and became world-famous not least thanks to his unique collection of field recordings.
Blues – the devil’s music that describes and depicts life
For some, it describes life as it is, with all its joys and sorrows. For others, it is the devil’s music, outrageous and wicked: the blues—born among the Black population of the American South and, to this day, closely associated with an instrument that quickly found its way into the world: the harmonica. Small and affordable, it arrived early in the southern United States, where it soon replaced the fiddle in the blues of the Black community.
Early players like Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton, and Sonny Terry continue to influence generations of harmonica players to this day. Quite a few played in the fields during the day, at the juke joint on Saturday nights, and in church on Sundays, where the blues mingled with gospel. Musically, gospel and blues are very similar; it is often the lyrics that distinguish them. The (vicious) earthly life on one side—the praise of the Lord on the other.
The Blue Forty-Five (Adam Sikora)
This is Adam Sikora’s new band. The Berlin-based musician is internationally renowned for his unique country hill blues style on the harmonica and is considered one of the world’s finest virtuosos in this genre.
Adam Sikora – harmonica, vocals
Andesh Ek – guitar
Sascha Haak – bass
Tim Stadler – drums
Axel Küstner
is a blues researcher, journalist, photographer and collector. The blues expert released the box set ‘Living Country Blues U.S.A.’ on Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau’s label (L+R Records), featuring more than 160 recordings that remain among the finest field recordings to this day.