In October 2020, Justin Adams, whose post-punk approach has been enriched by a passion for Arabic and African trance/blues, and Mauro Durante, a visionary inheritor of the Taranta roots of his native Puglia got together to make an intense and intimate album: Still Moving. They recorded live in the studio, without overdubs.
Together they found what was essential in their common sound, reaching into traditional music from Italy (folk songs like Damme La Manu, classics like Amara Terra Mia) and America (Little Moses, the Carter Family classic). Original songs, like Dark Road Down mix the wild pizzica rhythm of Southern Italy and trance boogie, while Djinn Pulse goes from serene instrumental minimalism to hypnotic catharsis. The title song Still Moving evokes Mediterranean migration with the ancient frame drum and raw electric guitar providing a starkly beautiful landscape.
Justin Adams, guitarist, producer and composer, plays with Robert Plant in his band, the Sensational Spaceshifters. Justin’s production on landmark albums by Tinariwen and Rachid Taha highlight his feel for North African groove, while his award-winning projects with Gambian maestro Juldeh Camara linked griot tradition with raw blues spirit.
This new collaboration with Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino violinist/percussionist Mauro Durante stems from a concert led by Ludovico Einaudi, the Notte della Taranta in Puglia, where the two first played together, recognising their common ground in the trance rhythms of Taranta. Together they create a raw, stripped-back sound that moves and mesmerises.
Justin Adams (guitar, vocals), Mauro Durante (violin, tamburello, daf, vocals)
“Adams’s guitar burns like a torch in the dead of the night. Mauro’s singing channels ancestral voices. Thoroughly unpredictable and profoundly meditative”.
THE TIMES (UK)
“You get Delta blues, rock, tarantella, Africa and the Arab world. It is sheer joy to listen to”
BBC RADIO 3 (UK)
“Gathered here in a feverish and intense duo, combining delta blues and pizzica (or taranta) from Salento, between rhythmic trance and laments, saturated guitar and vertiginous weightlessness vocals, they open up unexplored paths, offering a journey as unusual as it is captivating”.
LE MONDE (FR)
“While Adams’ electric guitar slowly snakes across the hills, Durante’s wild violin is heart-stopping. With earthy voices, they both ward off melancholy in an abrasive, bewitching ecstasy”
TELERAMA (FR)
“…the duo transcends the universe of popular music, reinvents migrations and leaves us floating in a hypnotic and carnal whirlwind of sound.”
FIP (FR)
“Ancient frame drum and the soaring fiddle of Mauro Durante ..mesh mesmerically with the raw, gutsy playing and occasional singing of Adams…….to conjure hypnotic beauty”
MOJO (UK)
“One of the albums of the year.”
SONGLINES (UK)
“The song “Dark Road Down”, as other strongly blues-inflected pieces features all their combined talents, sparking off each other with breath-taking energy that has the audience on the edge of their seat”
THE ARTS DESK (UK)
“An album’s worth of pulsating and hypnotic rhythms.”
MORNING STAR (UK)
“This is a labour of love and friendship, no mistake about that. An experiment to see what happens when things are mixed together. The answer? It works majestically.”
ROOTS WORLD (UK)
“Bordermusic in a territory that lies between blues, Salento tradition, Arab-African sounds and songwriting.”
CORRIERE DELLA SERRA (IT)
“Fascinating music in which the Italian cantabile is infused with raw North African blues.”
MUSIC FRAMES (NL)
“The result is quite stunning”
HEAVEN (NL)
“He and percussionist Mauro Durante have recorded a catchy album that moves wonderfully freely between different genres […]. Highly enjoyable”.
TROUW (NL)
“A golden duo, with a sublime album, in which the rough edges make everything perfect, however contradictory that may sound.”
MOORS MAGAZINE (NL)
Contacts:
PROMO : SIMON VEYSSIERE
simon@accent-presse.com
+336 70 21 32 83
BOOKING : GIUSEPPE PONTI
giuseppe@ponderosa.it
+39 02 48194128
MDC : MAGGIE DOHERTY
maggie.doherty@music-mdc.com
+331 42 01 95 36
