Music at the World Junction presents: an evening of global roots music.

Two master musicians, Justin Adams & Mauro Durante, come together in an award winning collaboration that weaves together the essence of reverberating blues & the uplift of Southern Italy’s lively pizzica & taranta dance styles. Exploring a deep fascination with ancient trance rhythms, the duo won Best Fusion Artist in leading world music magazine Songlines and their debut album Still Moving was reviewed by The Guardian as a ‘thrilling & spontaneous set’.

The duo's dynamic intensity - Saharan desert blues interweaving with the sound of the Maghreb and wild rhythmic folk dances from Puglia - reaches electric heights in the live setting. A Guardian highlight review of WOMAD describes a ‘virtuoso set’ and Justin Adams a ‘remarkable guitarist’. Collectively Justin & Mauro have graced the prestigious stages of The Proms at the Albert Hall, Madison Square Gardens, Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage & festivals including WOMAD, Shambala & India’s Sacred Spirit Festival. Following a near sell out show at The Jam Jar last year, it is exciting to welcome them both to Bristol again as they explore the new material of their upcoming second album.


Justin Adams needs little introduction; he is an in-demand producer, musical director & collaborator. He was Robert Plant's sideman on lead guitar from the early 2000s and the new creative highs of his most recent collaborations are fuelled by a breadth of experience from the early days of Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart to his production roles in groups such as Tinariwen, Rachid Taha & LoJo as well as releasing three brilliant albums as dynamic duo JUJU with Gambian griot Juldeh Camara and many other projects. Bristol audiences will know him from the trance group he leads alongside Moroccan master musician Mohamed Errebbaa.


Mauro Durante is a talented multi instrumentalist equally passionate as singer, violinist and percussionist; he is best known as the leader of the influential & long running traditional ensemble Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino co-founded by his parents and which he joined at the age of 14. They are celebrated for their performances of contemporary Pizzica, an ancient Tarantella music and dance form from Southern Italy and have performed world-wide, including BBC Proms and WOMAD. Mauro’s lyrical and moving performance of the traditional Italian folk song Amara Terra Mia drew a rapturous response from the Jam Jar audience last year. Mauro has also notably worked with contemporary popular classical pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi.

Opening the evening will be multi-instrumentalist, artist and storyteller benjin who has toured and recorded across Europe with a number of experimental music ensembles over the last 20 years. His work has been featured on BBC Radio 6 and Radio 3 alongside showings at London’s Serpentine & Tate galleries. With an open energy & rich performance, benjin’s repertoire for cello and nyckelharpa reframes the instrument’s European history and freely moves between a Bach violin sonata, free form jazz improvisation, Swedish traditional laments & English folk dance. 

Those wowed by benjin’s 2022 concert in Bristol still hold it as a masterclass in musicianship, spontaneity & storytelling. It’s a real pleasure to platform benjin on the Jam Jar’s stage as he brings his charged performance of history, politics & music to Bristol.

Doors 7pm.
Music at the World Junction DJs before, between & after.

Entry requirements: no age restrictions — Read more — Read less