WOMAD

Rhythm & Roots- Malmesbury School Children with Pee Wee Ellis

19:00 22nd July on the Open Air Stage

Massed Celebration of Funk and Blues

Our annual collaborative project with the students of Malmesbury School continues apace, this year aided by a couple of the West Country's most noteworthy musicians for this exploration of blues and funk traditions. From the Somerset market town of Frome comes the highly decorated Pee Wee Ellis, for so many years James Brown's right-hand man (as well as the chap who co-penned soul-funk classics like Cold Sweat and Say It Loud- I'm Back And I'm Proud), while representing Bath is Robert Plant's guitar slinger of choice and all-round globalista Justin Adams. They're joined by Gambian riti player Juldeh Camara and singer Mim Suleiman from Zanzibar.
(Biography written 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.

Mim Suleiman Biography

"Think of Miriam Makeba, meets Aretha Franklin........Mim show-stopping performace is already the talk of the town" (Dave Jarvis.)
''Soulful, soaring, deep, and divine, Mim's presence and music is a blessing'' (mpenzi)

Mim is a recorded artist and has played from Asia to Europe. Her music ranges form soul, blues, funk, house, jazz, rock and dance tracks, to her African heritage.
She sings and writes in English and Swahili (her native tongue) and is currently working on her new album, as well as a collaberation projects with  Rafiki Jazz and Bare Knuckle Soul
She also runs workshops that include finding your voice, performing, singing, dancing, Harmonising and song writing and has conducted them at festivals, universities, and schools etc throughout the UK and abroad.
(Image by York Tillyer)

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