WOMAD

Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara

18:00 24th July on the Siam

The intercontinental sound of bluesy trance

Justin Adams stands alone. No one musician has played WOMAD with as many different bands as this guitar-slinger, from Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart to Robert Plant's Sweet Sensation, via the outfits of Damian Dempsey, Ali Slimani and Ghostland. Not that he's simply a guitarist for hire, of course. Justin's also trod our boards as a bandleader in his own right, as well as in this partnership that binds his sinewy guitar with the dizzying riti playing of Juldeh Camara. Justin's always been an unrepentant musical voyager eager to open up new dialogues and this latest project is no different - it's a pairing that ignores the hard stares of music's border guards, instead producing a deeply spiritual communion with a foot in the deltas of both the Mississippi and the Niger. Indeed, on the evidence of the pair's recent North Africa-heavy Trance Sessions EP, don't rule out the odd out-of-body experience or three.

(Biography by Nige Tassell 2010)

Justin Adams Biography

“Justin Adams”

Justin Adams has been at the cutting edge of world music alchemy since the 1990's with Jah Wobble, Robert Plant (Adams co-wrote The Mighty Rearranger), Natacha Atlas, The Festival of the Desert, Tinariwen (producing their first and third albums), LO'JO. Taking influences from African, Arabic and Irish traditions as well as rock and roll and the Blues, his distinctive, driving guitar style is the missing link between Bo Diddley and Munir Bashir. With Tell No Lies, Adams delves deeper into the African origins of black American music, following the roots of New Orleans and Mississippi soul right back to the Songhai, Fulani and Toureg peoples of West Africa.

Juldeh Camara Biography

Juldeh Camara is an African Master Musician, taught to play by his blind father, who himself was taught directly by the djinn. Playing the ritti, a one-stringed fiddle and West African ancestor of the violin, he participated as a griot (a West African poet, praise singer and repository of oral tradition) in traditional Fula society. Juldeh has the drive and effortless flow of a great Bluesman. While his instrument brings to mind Delta players like Big Joe Williams, as well as Ali Farka Touré, there is a lilt in his playing that hints at the ancient links between North Africa and the Celtic World. He describes magical shapes on his ritti; one minute it's Blues harp, the next a Celtic fiddle, then a Saharan herdsman's flute. It is hard to believe all this emotion, range and flexibility comes from just one string.

Justin Adams Products At Our Store

• Soul Science
• Big Blue Ball
• Tell No Lies
• In Trance

Juldeh Camara Products At Our Store

• Tell No Lies
• In Trance

Find out more about Justin Adams at Real World Records

Find out more about Juldeh Camara at Real World Records