Tell No Lies CD by guitarist Justin Adams and Griot master Juldeh Camara is perfect world dance music for Gnawa spirit rhythms and African trance music lovers.

One of England's most innovative and original guitarists, Justin Adams first came to prominence in Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart in 1990. By the time of his solo debut, Desert Road, he was heralded by the Guardian UK as 'Britain's answer to Ry Cooder.'  Adams has worked with such diverse artists as Robert Plant, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Natacha Atlas and Tinariwen, but his collaboration with Griot master Juldeh Camara - who grew up playing for farmers working in the fields in Gambia - yielded the perfect match. Tell No Lies, their second album together and their first for Real World, is an exciting new fusion as Adams brings Clash-style energy to West African trance rhythm.

Tell No Lies is the new sound of Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara. The sound of a nation with no borders, a place that needs no passport, no visa. This is where the deep roots of African music nourish the raw electric groove of rock and roll, where Gnawa spirit rhythms come up against Chicago distortion, where snaky N'awlins rhythm has a West London howl, and a Sahel Wail.

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.

The reference points for Tell No Lies are recordings from the 1950s by the likes of Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters. To achieve the rawness and slight distortion meant a live feel was important. 'The way we've gone for that is to record in a very live way in The Wooden Room at Real World Studios. You'll hear the sweat and blood of the live performance, and all the scratchy bits' enthuses Justin. He is also interested in modern RnB and the heavy bottom-end of current pop music, so naturally Tell No Lies lies somewhere in between - the drive and powerful energy of the old records with something new as well.

Justin and Juldeh are joined by Salah Dawson Miller, a veteran of North African percussion who has played with an extraordinary array of artists including Phillip Glass, The Drifters, Dr. John, 3 Mustaphas 3 and Jah Wobble, and who studied in Algeria, Morocco, Cuba and Brazil.

They'll be touring North America in support of it this summer 2009.

Enjoy Tell No Lies CD by Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara? See below for more African music, ethno-trance dance and world dance music.