Asian Dub Foundation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Asian Dub Foundation | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Genre(s) | alternative electronica (breakbeat, dub, dancehall, ragga) | |
| Years active | 1993—present | |
| Website | www.asiandubfoundation.com | |
Asian Dub Foundation is a British alternative electronica band, that play a mix of breakbeat, dub, dancehall and ragga, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk influence.
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[edit] Biography
It was formed in 1993 as an outgrowth of the documentary Identical Beat, a film shot at London's Farringdon Community Music House, the site of a series of summer workshops designed to teach Asian children the essentials of music technology. In charge of the workshops were tutor Aniruddha Das and youth worker John Pandit, also a noted DJ; with one of their students, a 14-year-old Bengali rapper named Deeder Zaman, they soon formed a sound system which they called the Asian Dub Foundation.
After each adopted an alias — bassist/tabla player Das became Dr. Das, Pandit became Pandit G, and Zaman became Master D — they gradually evolved into a working band with the 1994 addition of former Higher Intelligence Agency and Atom Spies guitarist Steve Chandra Savale, an innovative performer known for tuning his strings to one note (like a sitar), turning up the distortion unit and playing his instrument with a knife, earning him the nickname "Chandrasonic."
Emerging in the midst of considerable anti-Asian violence throughout Britain, the Foundation's early demos landed them a contract with Nation Records, and they recorded their debut EP Conscious in 1994.
Channeling influences ranging from punk to ambient music to Bengali folk songs, Asian Dub Foundation quickly gained a strong fanbase not only among clubgoers but also among the anti-fascist movement, who applauded the group's vocal stand against racism.
After earning a reputation as stand-out live performers, the band — which now included dancer Bubble-E and second DJ Sun-J — won widespread acclaim for the 1995 single "Rebel Warrior". Their second album Rafi's Revenge was nominated for a Mercury Prize combining a unique combination of punk energy with a jungle/reggae core. Tours to America (with the Beastie Boys) and Japan followed to wide acclaim. Their following album developed their sound further and received a coveted 10/10 review in NME.
Deeder Zaman left the band after playing his last concert on new year's eve 2000, and the band expanded to include Pritphal Rajput (dhol, tabla), Rocky Singh (drums), MC Spex (vocals), Akhtarvator (vocals)--the latter recruited from the band's ongoing education project ADFED. The new line-up's debut took place in Brazil in 2001 where they visited various music projects especially "Afro-Reggae" in Rio, who are the subject of the recent film "Favela Rising".
The band pursued other avenues performing a live rescore to the film La Haine in 2001, and continuing to perform it round the world for the next five years. They developed this approach in 2004 with The Battle of Algiers, first performing the piece at the Brighton dome on the same day that photographs of torture in Abu Ghraib were released, adding great poignancy to the event.
In 2003 they released Enemy of the Enemy which became their best-selling album and contained the track "Fortress Europe," a stinging attack on European immigration policy along with "1000 Mirrors" a collaboration with Sinéad O'Connor about a woman serving life for killing an abusive husband. In 2003 ADF played their biggest gig in front of 100,000 people at Larzac in France at a celebration of José Bové, a radical campaigning farmer. For 2005's Tank they were joined by On-U Sound collaborator Ghetto Priest on vocals.
Asian Dub Foundation are currently working on a dub/punk opera, Gaddafi: A Living Myth about the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, which opens at the London Coliseum on September 7th 2006.
Dr. Das announced in May 2006 he retired from ADF to resume teaching and producing his own music. The new bass player is Martin Savale, aka Babu Stormz, who also plays bass with Swami.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Facts and Fictions (1995)
- R.A.F.I. (1997) (original only released in France)
- Rafi's Revenge (1998)
- Conscious Party (live) (1998) (original only released in France)
- Community Music (2000)
- Frontline 1993-1997: rarities and remixes (2001)
- Enemy of the Enemy (2003)
- Asian Dub Foundation live: Keep bangin' on the walls (CD) (2003)
- Tank (2005)
[edit] DVDs
- Asian Dub Foundation live: Asian Dub Foundation live (DVD) (2003)
[edit] Others
Asian Dub Foundation's music has been featured in some video game titles; "Flyover" in Burnout Revenge, "Rise To The Challenge" in FIFA 2004 and "Fortress Europe" in Need for Speed: Underground.
