2323f 12 shots from the fRoots Rocket Launcher a dozen leading questions to fire at Justin Adams
If you were given the funds to organise a concert bill, who would the artists be?
Takamba Super Onze De Gao, Musi- cians Of Jajouka, Beyoncé, Rising Star Drum And Fife Band, Patti Smith Band.
Which totally obscure record do you most treasure and would like more people to know about?
I bought a wonderful cassette in Khar- toum of a smoky-voiced woman doing call and response with a shrill female chorus against heavyweight swinging frame drum accompaniment – but I can’t read her name on the cassette cover!
What was the best live gig you ever saw? Bob Marley And The Wailers at the
Rainbow, June 1977. He was completely entrancing as a performer, and the Barrett Brothers were an unbelievable rhythm sec- tion, the I-Threes impossibly warm and groovy.
But some of my favourite live music has been not at gigs, but, for example Ahouache drummers in Tafraoute, Moroc- co, 40 Bendir players in a town square, or the Sound Systems at Notting Hill Carnival in the early ’80s.
And what was the worst? The Progressive Rock afternoon at
Siberia’s Sayan Ring Festival. All the key changes made me feel nauseous.
What was your own best ever gig?
Playing with Robert Plant , Skin and two members of Lojo at the 2002/3 Festival In The Desert in between Tartit and Ali Farka Touré was dream-like, but often the best gigs are in out-of-the-way pubs, no stress and wild audiences, like a recent Tri- aboliques gig in Stroud or with JuJu at the Hendre Hall near Bangor.
And what was your worst?
I did a collaborative gig at the Par- adiso in Amsterdam where the lead singer walked out just before the gig, and the backing singers were in a different key to the band. Half the band followed the singers, while the other half soldiered on in the original key!
What’s the professional achievement you’re most proud of?
My innovative dance moves.
What’s the most embarrassing thing you ever did in public?
My innovative dance moves.
Which song or piece of music would you most like to have written yourself?
Dolly Parton’s Jolene. Simple, bitter- sweet, a great groove, everybody knows it. And the royalties would pay for a driver and roadie on my next trip to Bangor.
Who was the first musician or singer you were inspired to emulate?
Ringo Starr. I felt his groove at the age of four.
Who was the last-but-one musician or singer you lusted after?
Ben Mandelson.
If you had a rocket launcher, who or what would be the target, and why?
I would probably take out a few mod- ern shopping centres (I’d spare the shop- pers and staff) and replace them with labyrinthine covered markets selling cas- settes, spices, fish and strange drums.
Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara, aka JuJu, have just released their new album In Trance on Real World (see fR337). Justin’s also a member of duskcore trio Les Tri- aboloques with Ben Mandelson and Lu Edmonds.
www.justinadams.co.uk F
root salad
Photo: Judith Burrows
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