Juldeh is a solo artist, but he has worked with many fine bands, including Ifang Bondi, Daykil Chosan Group, Tata Dindin Jobarteh Group, Afro Manding, Zubop, ZubopGambia, Seckou Keita Quartet, Batanai Marimba, Boka Halat and Joko.
Quotes from reviews of "Soul Science":
"...a real landmark in African flavoured blues...it just feels right" fRoots
“Unquestionably the cross-cultural album of the year” – Independent on Sunday
“…raw and gutsy” – The Telegraph
“…this is no dry experiment but music played with real soul” - The Sun 4****
“…pounding percussion and driving guitar with equally stirring and virtuoso fiddle solos and rousing vocals” – The Guardian 4****
“An album to make the word fusion respectable again” – The Evening Standard 4****
“…Camara’s obsessive fiddling and Adams’ wide guitar shapes worked a treat…” – Financial Times 4****
“ …it is difficult not to imagine Bo (Diddley) himself playing "Ya Ta Kaya" or "Sanakubay" on some 1950’s package tour” – The Times 4****
Sounds Like
SOUL SCIENCE
LYRIC TRANSLATIONS
YERRO MAMA
God was with Yerro Mama Gallow, he was a great warrior in the land of our ancestors. With him was Saiku Oumar Gellah Gagi and Alpha Molo all of whom were powerful men of Africa our mother land. Men of big hearts, brave and strong, they fought for land, for power and for pride because it meant a lot to them.
YA TA KAAYA
(I WANT TO STAY FRESH)
Woman of sweet smells, fresh and pleasant ,come near me ,for that is what I want of you.
Women of the world I send you my greetings, I also extend it specially to women of Basse Mansagang Kunda, Brikama Ba, Sinchu Chaawel and to all women.
Jarri Bladeh woman of culture I send you greetings, come and hear what I have to say.
SANAKUBAY
I sing about surnames, they mean a lot in our culture. The surname you bear places you in society and there is not any that is greater or smaller. Surnames can give you a number of privileges,They also guide you in how you talk and behave with others of certain surnames. This includes a lot of teasing but is only meant for fun. Every surname has a number of other surnames they can relate to in this way without any troubles, the wittier the teasing, the better. Therefore allow me to tease and sing for the people of the surnames I can tease. The Jawos are the first for they eat and they are never full. I can tell you this because I am Camara and I hear them cry for food all the time. I even have to give them some of my own food.
In as much as I tease the Jawos they are also great people, they love their culture and they adore and promote their musicians.
NJATIGI
(HOST)
Host, O great host please receive your visitors and accept them with open hearts. Respect them, guide them, and make them feel at home because this will mean a lot to them.
When you say welcome to a visitor, one day you will have to say goodbye to them as well, therefore be patient and tolerant to visitors for they come and go. Hold them with warmth and goodness because they are far from home and acceptance is all they need.
NAAFIGI
(hypocrite)
Hypocrite, O hypocrite when will you stop going round and causing trouble to innocent men. God save us from a hypocrite for their ways are malicious they love destruction, God give us peace in our hearts and love above all.
Let us love one another like we belong to one mother and father, for we are all from Adam and Eve. I welcome all of you that have come to listen to me for I want you to take home what I have to say. For this I say ‘a ne suku ma’ which means thank you in the Bambara language and ‘on njarama’ which is thank you in Fulani language.
Remember brethren, God has given us each a patch to look after in his farm and we will be blessed according to our efforts. No man can stop the will of God because it is final, he is almighty and has power on all beings so let us be obedient and make him happy.
SUBUHANALAII
(HAVE MERCY)
Have mercy on us O God we are your children we want to be good people. We want you to renew our hearts and make us good in our hearts and our minds.
Don’t hurt your brother or sister or anyone, instead I ask you to stop think and remember to do a good deed for all mankind. Don’t be selfish always consider others, do this and make everyone happy.
NGAMEN
(LETS DANCE)
Let's dance, women, let's dance, sing with me, back me with your sweet, sweet vocals. Clap your hands, clap as you dance to the music. Let's bring joy, play and laughter to the people of all generations and make them feel good.
If you wish I can stay up and play all night for you, or if it happens to be morning I will play till noon, and if noon comes I will continue playing till the sun goes down. All I want is to make everyone happy.
I want to pay special tribute to the women because they are our mothers, our wives, our sisters and our daughters. God bless women in all they do and God bless the men who are their other halves.
NAYO
Let us work hard for Peace and have goodwill in all that we do for this will help the ill hearted among us.
Help me girls because I wanna dance but I might Break .Shake your bodies so I can hear the jingles of The beads round your waist as it makes me tingle. Dance Everybody dance, dance and let’s remember the people of fuladu they love to party.
YO LAY LAY
Yo lay yo lay lay I cried, I vowed that I would not go to the land of the master. Yes I cried, I swore I wouldn't follow the master. He asked me why but I just refused to respond to his question.
Poor me, bound and bruised I felt useless ,and that this is not me. I feel hurt and my heart is heavy, but what can I do? Obey the master or die. He insulted me but it didn’t bother me because I know who I am. I am not a slave, no, I am a shepherd. I take my herds of cattle, sheep and goats into the greenest pastures, full of grass with a mixture of flowers and trees. I walk freely in the fields and I drink milk from the cows I own, yes this is me and this is who I am I am a Shepherd not a slave.
ME WAIRI BAINGURAY AM
(I MISS MY FAMILY)
I miss my family so let me sing for my family a special song. Its been long since I last saw them and my heart is longing for everyone. Leaving my home was sad but the worst is having to leave my wife and children behind, how long it will take me to return I really cannot tell. Right now all I want is to be able to provide for their needs because finding the greenest pastures might take time, months or years I surely do not know.
Man, oh man, what is all this I have to endure in order to make life better for my loved ones. O God, give me your blessings so that I can get something that I can return with , for all I want right now is my home. I can't stand the loneliness anymore, I want to see my country, my people, my wife and my children.
Robert Plant with Justin and Juldeh at WOMAD Abu Dhabi 2009 with Billy Fuller on bass and Martyn Barker on drums and percussion.
Tata Dindin Jobarteh of The Gambia & his Salam band (with guest riti player Juldeh Camara) singing his song Bitilo-One Love, his contribution to the CD "Kairo, Sounds of The Gambia". Filmed and posted on YouTube by Chaim Rubinstein http://www.youtube.com/user/AbeRubinstein
Tell No Lies - the new album by Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara out May 11 2009. Click here to order now
Tell No Lies - the new album by Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara out May 11 2009.
“Tell No Lies - The deepest trance-blues this side of Timbuktu. Tougher, louder, edgier and more elemental than ever”
Uncut (4 Stars)
"There’s more light and shade than on Soul Science, with a tangential side-step into Cuban music (‘Banjul Girls’) along with the more familiar trudges through Muddy Waters (so to speak). Highly impressive stuff."
Songlines (Top of the World Album)
“This follow up is even better; it’s even more confident and refreshingly varied, with songs that echo the raw exuberance of The Clash, the rolling blues of Muddy Waters and the delicacy and grandeur of the ancient griot ballads.”
The Guardian (5 Stars)
“Justin Adams is probably the most influential catalyst of African-Western musical crossovers of the last couple of decades”
The Independent (4 Stars)
“It’s an exotic, brilliantly realised example of a happy fusion of cultures.”
The Sun (4 Stars)
“This is an extraordinary album…the track Sahara negates any need for a Stone Roses revival.”
Mojo (4 Stars)
“BBC World Music Award winner Camara…offsets his trancey riffs against Adams’s band’s rockabilly echo to stunning effect”
Daily Express (4 Stars)
“[Tell No Lies] increases the intensity with no hint that there might be a limit to the seam they are mining.”
The Sunday Times
..
Juldeh Camara, born 1966, Basse, The Gambia, riti/nyanyeru artist, vocalist, composer and instrument maker.
Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara album 'Soul Science' is in all good record shops now, including online at IRL shop now.
Itunes account holders can purchase the album digitally from Itunes.
Soul Science has won the award for the best album in the Culture Crossing category for the BBC World Music Awards 2008, and Justin and Juldeh will be appearing at the Award Winners' Concert on 30th July at the Royal Albert Hall, London, as part of the BBC Proms.
The riti or nyanyeru is a one-string violin, originating from the Fulani people. The Fulani are originally a nomadic people and you can find various Fulani people all over the Sahel, from East to West. In Wolof the violin is called the riti, and in Fula the nyanyeru.
Juldeh Camara is undoubtedly one of the leading riti players of West Africa, and one of the most prominent Fula musicians. A fine singer and a prolific composer, Juldeh's work has been very wide-ranging, from traditional Fula pieces through work with Ifang Bondi (for the past 30 years one of West Africa's leading electric bands) - all over Europe and in the USA - to recording with Norwegian guitarist Knut Reiersrud and British r'n'b artist Dee Ellington. His recording debut in 1990 was for Bill Laswell's Axiom label, produced by Laswell and Foday Musa Suso - one of the tracks was subsequently sampled by leading Senegalese rap artists Positive Black Soul.
"The djinni took his eyes and gave him the violin, the gift to play on it and the gift to see what other people cannot see." This is Juldeh's story about how his father became a musician. Juldeh's grandfather was a hunter, and he wanted his son Serif to become a great hunter as himself, but when Serif was 15 years old he disappeared in the forest. Everyone thought he was dead, killed by the hyenas. One year later his father still went every day to the forest to look for his son. Suddenly he could hear a sound from a tree. He came closer and he saw his son sitting in the tree playing a golden violin. He understood that Serif was hypnotised by the djinni and after many hours he managed to drive the djinni away, but at the same time the violin was gone. Serif followed his father home, but every day he went back to the forest to learn more from the djinni. When the time came, and Serif had become a fully trained musician and Marabou, the djinni took his eyesight in return. Juldeh grew up in Sariyalla in Casamance, West Africa, with his blind jali-father as his teacher. When one listens carefully one can hear the sound of the djinni in Juldeh's music.
Juldeh is recognised as one of the finest riti/nyanyeru players in West Africa. His tours to Europe include three trips to Norway, touring with guitarist Knut Reiersrud. He has recorded with Knut, as well as musicians from other continents, including the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. In the UK he has recorded with Zubop (Hiptodisiac, 1997/8), and more recently with Batanai Marimba on Moto Moto (2000) and Mudzimu Mudzimu (2002). His tours in the UK include those with Afro Manding Sound, in 1996 and 1997, and with Ifang Bondi in 1998, 2000 and 2001. He has recorded with Ifang Bondi on their 1998 CD Gigi Gis.
Since 1996 he has worked as a music teacher for ECCO, a Gambian NGO arranging courses for students of music from universities and academies in Europe (including, in recent years, students from London's Guildhall School of Music). The project is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development - NORAD. The courses are being arranged in traditional music villages all over The Gambia.
In early 2003, Juldeh toured in England with the members of Zubop and djembe player Njega, as ZubopGambia, a tour supported by the Arts Council of England. Throughout the summer of 2003 he worked at The National Theatre, London, playing music for the acclaimed play 'Elmina's Kitchen' by Kwame Kwei-Armah. The play was later adapted for TV and screened on BBC4, toured in the UK and transferred to the West End - all with Juldehs involvement. In 2004, he toured in England with kora player Seckou Keita in an acoustic quartet, appeared on BBC World Service 'Guy Barker's World Café' and continued to work with ZubopGambia, who released a live CD recorded on the 2003 tour. Since then he has been working with Boka Halat, bringing together English folk dance and musics of the world - this group includes his countryman the percussionist Musa Mboob, with whom Juldeh has also worked on a new project, Joko (www.jokoband.com).
In early 2007, Juldeh started working with the excellent British guitarist and producer Justin Adams, best known for his work with Robert Plant in recent years, and in the '90s with Jah Wobble's Invaders of The Heart, also for his album Desert Road and his occasional live band The Wayward Sheikhs, featuring Salah Dawson Miller on percussions, Andy Cox on guitar (formerly of The Beat), Femi Akinde on bass and Siaye Akinde on drumkit.
Juldeh had been enjoying Justin's work for some time - after a friend sent him a cassette containing some tracks from Justin's CD Desert Road, he would sit and play along with it at his compound in Bakau, entertaining the children and passers by. He's very happy to be playing with Justin in real life, at last! In February 2007, Justin, Juldeh and Salah played at the prestigious Barbican concert hall in London, playing as support for Tinariwen, the renowned Touareg group whose latest CD Aman Iman was produced by Justin. Since then, Justin, Juldeh and Salah have played all over the UK and in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Mexico, touring with Tinariwen around the UK in May 2008.
The Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara album 'Soul Science' was released on 1st October 2007.
The album can be ordered from the IRL shop now.
Soul Science won the award for the best album in the Culture Crossing category for the BBC World Music Awards 2008, and Justin and Juldeh appeared at the Award Winners' Concert on 30th July at the Royal Albert Hall, London, as part of the BBC Proms.
Juldeh Camara Discography
1990 Ancient Heart - Mandinka & Fula Music of the Gambia - Various artists -Axiom CD (produced by Foday Musa Suso and Bill Laswell)
1993 Tramp - Knut Reiersrud - (Kirkelig Kulturverstedet FXCD ???) Norwegian CD featuring Juldeh with other Gambian musicians, plus The Blind Boys of Alabama. Tramp was received with critical accolades and went on to sell 23.000 copies in Norway. Reiersrud is a uniquely talented musician, a guitarist and composer with knowledge of many folk traditions, and a fine blues player.
1995 Klapp - Knut Reiersrud - (Kirkelig Kulturverstedet FXCD 151) Norwegian CD featuring Juldeh with other Gambian musicians on some tracks.
1997 Hiptodisiac - Zubop - 2 tracks - UK 33 Records CD
1997 Dee Ellington - Vibe Me (UK r'n'b single -RCA)
1997 New-York Paris Dakar - Positive Black Soul - 1 track (cassette vol 1 - also released on CD)
1998 Gis Gis - Ifang Bondi - MW Records CD - Netherlands
1999 Millenium Drum Salute - Various Artists - Yellowgate CD - Serrekunda, The Gambia
1999 Kairo Sounds of the Gambia - Various Artists - Arch CD - Gambia
2000 Moto Moto - Batanai Marimba - Koni CD UK
2002 Mudzimu Mudzimu - Batanai Marimba - Koni CD UK
2003 Madirisa - Daykil Chosan Group - ECCO (ECCO The Gambia, PO Box 4666, Bakau, The Gambia, West Africa. www.ecco.gm guro@eccointernational.org) Daykil Chosan Group consists of ECCO's regular tutors, who teach groups of mainly Scandinavian undergraduate music students - recently joined by some from the London Guildhall School of Music - in The Gambia. The recording was recorded at Yellowgate Studios, Serekunda and produced by bassist/guitarist/keyboardist extraordinaire Kebba Taylor.
2004 ZubopGambia Live (Recorded at Ronnie Scotts, London, Settle and Ipswich, 2003) UK 33 Records CD
2008 Kanaké - Tata Dindin Jobarteh - abuko EARTH STATION SAM 9016
2009 Tell No Lies - Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara - Real World CDRW170
From Soundcheck At Momo’s, The Africa Channel, screened via Sky in the UK on April 27. This show is also to be screened in the USA and elsewhere. More details at Soundcheck At Momo’s
Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara live at the 'Croft' in Bristol. filmed and edited by Tom Swindell: http://www.youtube.com/user/tomswindell
Finale of the Creation of Peace Festival, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, August 2008. Justin and Juldeh in the thick of it . . .
Gala Performance at WOMAD, Charlton Park, 2008 (directed by Justin Adams). Jali Fily Cissokho joins Amy Sacko on stage with Bassekou Kouyate, Justin Adams, Juldeh Camara, Billy Cobham...
With Love and respect, thanx for the myspace friend add! Come hear some of the poetry on my page, let me know what U think as well and keep doin UR thing as I do the same my way. Until the next...
All Of Us At TuWorlds Would Like To Invite You To Come And Listen To A NEW TRACK "Tek it easy" by THE Q (TuWorlds) & Raga Z. Come Check It ;-) Please Let Us Know What You Think.
Dear All, Justin and Juldeh are guesting on Invisible System - Punt (made in Ethiopia) getting great reviews and airplay in the UK and US e.g.current and next FRoots mag
Captain Sensible (The Damned) Ed Wynne (Ozric Tentacles / Noden Inctus) Simon Hinkler (ex-The Mission) Dubulah (ex-Transglobal Underground, Temple of Sound, Natasha Atlas etc) Perch (Zion Train) Juldeh (Justin Adams, Realworld etc) Elmer Thudd (ex-Loop Guru) Mahmoud Ahmed & Bahta Gebrehiwot (Ethiopiques) Hilaire Shabby (Baba Maal) Justin Adams (Robert Plant & Strange Sensation, ex Jah Wobble’s Invaders) Tsedenia, Mimi, Kebede, Desta, Terameg & Sami (Ethiopians since this album signed to Realworld Records as Dub Collosus) Joie Hinton (ex-Eat Static & Ozric Tentacles / Here and Now / IGV) Martin Cradick (Baka Beyond/ex-Outback) Gary Woodhouse (The Rhythmites) Bos (ex-Junkwaffle and Warp/Eat Static artist)
The album is Ethiopian, World, Dub, Dance, Rock, Drum & Bass, Psychedelia, Trance, Electronica & live traditional vocal and instrument. amazon.co.uk, play.com, harperdiabate.com, itunes, cdbaby etc (buy the cd, art work is awsome!)
Are you looking for a new violin or viola bow? My carbon fiber bow was designed for people that play lively music, especially fiddlers
Check it out: http:/fiddlersbow.ning.com
Thank you
I hope all is well and good and I just wanted to let you know I've just put up a new track called ECHO so I thought you might want to have a listen. :o) It's just the instrumental version I did not long ago but I do have a full section of vocal to arrange into this track so I'll keep you posted on the outcome! :o)
I appreciate your time and support and any comments posted.
Hi there,
listen to our latest release BWO021 PRIMAL SCREAM EP - KLANGFREQUENZ on our myspace page. The EP is supported by AXWELL, TOM NOVY, MARK BROWN and many more and displays deep, melodic Tech House with the two tracks 'Primal Scream' and 'Day vs Night'.
For download on Beatport just click on the flyer below:
Enjoy,
B&W Orange
Hello from the amazing windy plains just outside Calgary , Alberta Wonderful sites and sounds in your space.Many discoveries made at your space, very nice indeed to be Space m8s.
In a act of Kindness endorphin levels are elevated in the Giver, the Receiver and the Observer, how nice is that.
"do not seek happiness .. but .. do rid your self of unhappiness = Zero Negative thoughts"
"Share knowledge ,it is a way to achieve immortality"
I'm really excited to have uploaded to myspace my first
video! It's called 'A Day At The Country
Show'. I'd love you to check it out and
let me know what you think.
Hi everybody, just here to say our new RORY GALLAGHER HAWK BOOSTER is ready for shipping. Have a listen if you get a chance, All the best, Stevie Flynn.
Do you like fiddle music? Are you a fiddler? Then join us in the Fiddle World - sometimes called the Facebook for Fiddlers!
http://fiddleworld.ning.com
It's free to join and we're always looking for new members...see you there
Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara track 'Subuhanalai' to be aired on Merlin's Magical Music Moments; Wednesday 3rd June 2009. Live on air on Soundart Radio 102.5 fm 20.30 - 22.00 pm GMT. The full play list is now up on my blog.
One Love
