Many thanks to fellow Island blogger, Wighteye for sharing his thoughts of the Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara gig held at Quay Arts last week. Ed
Last Friday’s gig at Quay Arts was a real treat, but enjoyed by relatively few; the theatre was only about half full, which was surprising when artists of such world music stature were playing.
The collaboration between Justin Adams (guitarist for Robert Plant and producer of Tinariwen) and griot master musician Juldeh Camara from Gambia melds blues with African rhythms to great effect.
Juldeh had contacted Justin seeking a collaboration having heard his CD ‘Desert Road’. The gig centered around the tracks recorded for their album ‘Soul Space’, one of Songlines’ Top 10 CDs of 2007.
Repetitive, slowly shifting rhythms created an almost trance-like state at times underpinned by excellent percussion provided by Salah Dawson Miller. Justin allowed space for Juldeh to shine in his playing of the ritti (a desert fiddle) and all three musicians clearly enjoyed collaborating, perhaps no more so than when each was playing percussion.
The audience response grew as they settled into the groove and by the end we were making as much noise as a full theatre normally would. This was a really uplifting feel-good event.
We bought copies of both CDs which are recommended, I just wish that we could have left with Salah Dawson Miller’s hat which was to die for!
WightEye lives up in Cowes and runs the WightEye Blog
