Asian Dub Foundation
Encyclopedia
Asian Dub Foundation are a British
electronica
band that plays a mix of rapcore
, dub
, dancehall
and ragga
, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk
influence. Their distinctive sound also combines indo-dub basslines, searing sitar-inspired guitars and ‘traditional’ sounds, shot through with fast-chat conscious lyrics.
which they called the Asian Dub Foundation.
Asian Dub Foundation is better described as a group that arose from a community rap organisation. The different forms of music include toasting, dub, funky guitars and many other African instrumentals. One of their most influential tracks is named Strong Culture which gives the listener an idea of the Asian culture. "Their distinctive sound is a combination of hard ragga-jungle rhythms, indo-dub basslines, searing sitar-inspired guitars and 'traditional' sounds gleaned from their parents' record collections, shot through with fast-chat conscious lyrics".
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
.
Sanjay Gulabhai Tailor, Aka Sun-J, joined the band as live midi/programmer and DJ soon after. This completed the full live line-up of the band. After earning a reputation as formidable live performers, the band — which now included dancer Bubble-E — 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. The single, 'Naxalite' was an ode to the militant Naxalite
movement in India
. Tours to the United States
with the Beastie Boys
and Japan
followed to wide acclaim. Their following album, Community Music
, 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) and Akhtarvator (vocals), the latter recruited from the band's ongoing education project ADFED. The new line-up played a few one off gigs mostly at festivals over the summer of 2000 with their first full tour taking 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".
In 2002, Pandit G was awarded the MBE
for "services to the music industry" in relation to his work with Community Music. He declined the award, however, stating:
The band pursued other avenues performing a live rescore to the film La Haine
in 2001, and continued performing it around the world for the next five years. They developed this approach in 2004 with the film 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.
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, they 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.
In 2005, they won "Best Underground" at the UK Asian Music Awards
.
Bassist Dr Das announced his intention to retire in May 2006 to resume teaching and produce his own music. He was replaced by Martin Savale, aka Babu Stormz, who also plays bass with British-Asian electro/grunge/hip-hop band Swami
.
In September 2006, the dub/punk opera "Gaddafi: A Living Myth", with music by Asian Dub Foundation, opened at the London Coliseum
. In Spring 2007, Asian Dub Foundation announced the release of a best of
compilation Timefreeze 1995-2007 which includes a bonus disc of rare remixes and live tracks, featuring Chuck D
, the lead rapper of American hip hop
group, Public Enemy. The album also features a new track recorded with former vocalist Deeder Zaman. In May 2007 Asian Dub Foundation performed a radio session and interview on the Bobby
and Nihal
show on BBC Radio 1
where they performed three new tracks: "Climb On", "Superpower" and "S.O.C.A.". In June 2007, they were the only Western act to perform at the Festival of Gnawa music
in Essaouira
, Morocco
playing to a crowd of 60,000 people and collaborating with traditional Gnawa musicians.
Between 2004 and 2007, when Aktarv8r was not a member of the group, he played live on stage with the London band Oojami who perform Middle Eastern belly dance
music. On the album "Boom Shinga Ling" released late in 2006, Aktarv8r plays on a couple of songs and is credited on the album under his own name Aktar Ahmed.
In August 2007, Asian Dub Foundation started playing with two new vocalists, Al Rumjen (previously with King Prawn) and Aktarv8r returned after MC Spex was asked to leave the band. In November and December 2007, Asian Dub Foundation recorded a new album, Punkara
, with The Go! Team
producer, Gareth Parton. It was released in spring 2008 and followed by an extensive tour of Europe and Japan.
In 2009, Asian Dub Foundation contributed to the Indigenous Resistance project after having met up with the Atenco resistance movement in Mexico. Asian Dub Foundation are at present working on their new album provisionally entitled "A New London Eye" which will feature Ministry of Dhol, Nathan "Flutebox" Lee, Chi 2 and Skrein.
, was inspired by the 1920s poem, "Bidrohi" by Bengali
poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam
, an advocate for Indian independence
. The song discusses the racial violence and inequality that the group state still plagues their British communities. Asian Dub Foundation have used their music in conjunction with education and social work for youth in the East End of London
, as well as other British anti-racism
campaigns.
Like other groups in their genre such as Hustlers HC
and Fun-Da-Mental
, Asian Dub Foundation fuse South Asia
n instrumentation and lyrics with the dominantly conceived black music
genre of rap
. Their music is able to signify a disruption in the racial/ethnic boundaries of hip hop. In their song, "Strong Culture", they assert their authenticity as legitimate Asian hip-hop artists, contrary to other popular claims. The line from the song, "I'm not a Black man / This time it's an Asian." likens back to when Asians were considered "Black" by some in the United Kingdom (UK) and often were part of that musical scene as Asian music had not fully emerged yet. Their lyrics call for radical political harmony and they use their music as an organizing tool for cultural politics, endorsing righteousness, social change, and an end to what they perceive as oppression in the UK. They also pursue the issue of the politicisation of the category "Asian," asserting the legitimacy and authenticity of having an Asian identity in the hip-hop world. They redefine the "Asian" category by reconnecting it with an anti-colonial history, as well a current, existing anti-racist struggle.
They challenge the argument that Asians are passive onlookers in popular culture who are hardly involved in the music industry. Their music functions to bridge the black influence with their own Asian style, using such lyrics as "I grab the mic to commence with the mic check. Supply rhymes, man you never heard yet, you've never thought an Asian could do this." Reckoning a traditional hip-hop MC style with their own Asian influence and simultaneously mixing in various other musical styles, thus disbanding the polarisation of the racial terms and addressing the "ongoing racialised violence and inequality evident in everyday experience in their neighbourhood".
, "Rise To The Challenge" in FIFA Football 2004
and Test Drive Unlimited
, "Fortress Europe" in Need for Speed: Underground
and "Burning Fence" in Need for Speed: Undercover
.
The song "Rebel Warrior
" is featured in the film, The Fourth World War
. The song plays during a scene about the 1996-1997 general strike in South Korea
. They also have a part in the soundtrack for the film Vexille
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
electronica
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
band that plays a mix of rapcore
Rapcore
Rapcore is a subgenre of rap rock fusing vocal and sometimes instrumental elements of hip hop with punk rock .-History:...
, dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
, dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
and ragga
Ragga
-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...
, also using rock instruments, acknowledging a punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
influence. Their distinctive sound also combines indo-dub basslines, searing sitar-inspired guitars and ‘traditional’ sounds, shot through with fast-chat conscious lyrics.
Biography
The band 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 South 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 systemSound system (DJ)
A sound system is a group of DJs and engineers contributing and working together as one, playing and producing music.-Origin:The sound system concept originated in the 1950s in Kingston, Jamaica. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers to set up street parties...
which they called the Asian Dub Foundation.
Asian Dub Foundation is better described as a group that arose from a community rap organisation. The different forms of music include toasting, dub, funky guitars and many other African instrumentals. One of their most influential tracks is named Strong Culture which gives the listener an idea of the Asian culture. "Their distinctive sound is a combination of hard ragga-jungle rhythms, indo-dub basslines, searing sitar-inspired guitars and 'traditional' sounds gleaned from their parents' record collections, shot through with fast-chat conscious lyrics".
After each adopted an alias — bassist/tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
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
Higher Intelligence Agency
Higher Intelligence Agency, often also referred to by its acronym HIA, is the main electronic music project of Birmingham UK based Bobby Bird....
and Atom Spies guitarist Steve Chandra Savale
Steve Chandra Savale
Steve Chandra Savale originally from London, United Kingdom, also known by his stage names Chandrasonic and Chandra Blunt, is a British musician of Asian descent, best known as the lead guitarist of the British electronica band Asian Dub Foundation...
, an innovative performer known for tuning his strings to one note (like a sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
), 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
Nation Records
Nation Records is a record label set up by Kath Canoville and Aki Nawaz in 1988.-History:The label was set up after major labels declined to release their fusion of world music and dance music, an album called Fuse...
, and they recorded their debut EP Conscious in 1994. Channeling influences ranging from punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
to ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
to Bengali folk songs, Asian Dub Foundation quickly gained a strong fanbase not only among clubgoers but also among the anti-fascist
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
movement, who applauded the group's vocal stand against racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
.
Sanjay Gulabhai Tailor, Aka Sun-J, joined the band as live midi/programmer and DJ soon after. This completed the full live line-up of the band. After earning a reputation as formidable live performers, the band — which now included dancer Bubble-E — won widespread acclaim for the 1995 single "Rebel Warrior". Their second album Rafi's Revenge
Rafi's Revenge
Rafi's Revenge is an album from 1998 by Asian Dub Foundation. The album mixed jungle-style drum and bass, bhangra, dub, breakbeat and punkish guitars with politically and socially conscious rapped lyrics....
was nominated for a Mercury Prize combining a unique combination of punk energy with a jungle/reggae core. The single, 'Naxalite' was an ode to the militant Naxalite
Naxalite
The word Naxal, Naxalite or Naksalvadi is a generic term used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes...
movement in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Tours to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
followed to wide acclaim. Their following album, Community Music
Community Music
Community Music is an album by British band Asian Dub Foundation, released on 20 March 2000. The album reached #20 in the UK album charts.-Track listing:All songs by Das, Pandit, Tailor, Savale, Zaman unless otherwise stated....
, developed their sound further and received a coveted 10/10 review in NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
.
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
Dhol
Dhol can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent and nearby regions. Its range of distribution in India and Pakistan primarily includes northern areas such as the Assam Valley, Bengal, Gujarat,...
, tabla), Rocky Singh (drums), MC Spex (vocals) and Akhtarvator (vocals), the latter recruited from the band's ongoing education project ADFED. The new line-up played a few one off gigs mostly at festivals over the summer of 2000 with their first full tour taking 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".
In 2002, Pandit G was awarded the MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
for "services to the music industry" in relation to his work with Community Music. He declined the award, however, stating:
The band pursued other avenues performing a live rescore to the film La Haine
La Haine
La Haine is a 1995 French black-and-white film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. It is commonly released under its French title in the English-speaking world, although its American VHS release was entitled Hate. It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live in...
in 2001, and continued performing it around the world for the next five years. They developed this approach in 2004 with the film The Battle of Algiers
The Battle of Algiers (film)
The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 war film based on occurrences during the Algerian War against French colonial occupation in North Africa, the most prominent being the titular Battle of Algiers. It was directed by Gillo Pontecorvo...
, first performing the piece at the Brighton dome on the same day that photographs of torture in Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq came to public attention...
were released.
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
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
about a woman serving life for killing an abusive husband. In 2003, they played their biggest gig in front of 100,000 people at Larzac in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
at a celebration of José Bové
José Bové
Joseph Bové is a French farmer and syndicalist, member of the alter-globalization movement, and spokesman for Via Campesina. He was one of the twelve official candidates in the 2007 French presidential election...
, a radical campaigning farmer. For 2005's Tank, they were joined by On-U Sound collaborator Ghetto Priest on vocals.
In 2005, they won "Best Underground" at the UK Asian Music Awards
UK Asian Music Awards
The UK Asian Music Awards, also known by the abbreviation UK AMA, is an award show that is held annually in the United Kingdom since 2002. It is presented by B4U Music since 2008...
.
Bassist Dr Das announced his intention to retire in May 2006 to resume teaching and produce his own music. He was replaced by Martin Savale, aka Babu Stormz, who also plays bass with British-Asian electro/grunge/hip-hop band Swami
Swami (band)
Swami are a critically acclaimed British Indian pop/alt/bhangra band from Birmingham, England. It is also the pseudonym of the band's lead performer, producer, DJ and guitarist Diamond Duggal , who founded the band with his brother Simon Duggal...
.
In September 2006, the dub/punk opera "Gaddafi: A Living Myth", with music by Asian Dub Foundation, opened at the London Coliseum
Coliseum Theatre
The London Coliseum is an opera house and major performing venue on St. Martin's Lane, central London. It is one of London's largest and best equipped theatres and opened in 1904, designed by theatrical architect Frank Matcham , for impresario Oswald Stoll...
. In Spring 2007, Asian Dub Foundation announced the release of a best of
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...
compilation Timefreeze 1995-2007 which includes a bonus disc of rare remixes and live tracks, featuring Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
, the lead rapper of American hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
group, Public Enemy. The album also features a new track recorded with former vocalist Deeder Zaman. In May 2007 Asian Dub Foundation performed a radio session and interview on the Bobby
Bobby Friction
Paramdeep Singh Sehdev , better known as Bobby Friction, is a DJ, television presenter and radio presenter from west London.He studied Contemporary Arts at The Nottingham Trent University....
and Nihal
DJ Nihal
DJ Nihal is an English radio and TV presenter, as well as club night promoter and DJ, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio 1, BBC Asian Network and since August 6, 2010 BBC Radio 5 Live...
show on BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
where they performed three new tracks: "Climb On", "Superpower" and "S.O.C.A.". In June 2007, they were the only Western act to perform at the Festival of Gnawa music
Gnawa music
Gnawa music is a mixture of sub-Saharan African, Berber, and Sufi religious songs and rhythms. It combines music and acrobatic dancing. The music is both a prayer and a celebration of life...
in Essaouira
Essaouira
Mogador redirects here, for the hamlet in Surrey see Mogador, Surrey.Essaouira is a city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, on the Atlantic coast. Since the 16th century, the city has also been known by its Portuguese name of Mogador or Mogadore...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
playing to a crowd of 60,000 people and collaborating with traditional Gnawa musicians.
Between 2004 and 2007, when Aktarv8r was not a member of the group, he played live on stage with the London band Oojami who perform Middle Eastern belly dance
Belly dance
Belly dance or Bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "Middle Eastern" dance, especially raqs sharqi . It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West, or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli...
music. On the album "Boom Shinga Ling" released late in 2006, Aktarv8r plays on a couple of songs and is credited on the album under his own name Aktar Ahmed.
In August 2007, Asian Dub Foundation started playing with two new vocalists, Al Rumjen (previously with King Prawn) and Aktarv8r returned after MC Spex was asked to leave the band. In November and December 2007, Asian Dub Foundation recorded a new album, Punkara
Punkara
Punkara is the sixth studio album by the collective Asian Dub Foundation. It was recorded with The Go! Team producer, Gareth Parton at The Fortress Studios, London. It is the first album released with new singer Al Rumjen formerly of King Prawn. There was an advanced release in Japan on 26 March...
, with The Go! Team
The Go! Team
The Go! Team are a six-piece band from Brighton, England. They combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of blaxploitation and Bollywood soundtracks, double dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars similar to the style of Sonic Youth. Their songs are a mix of live...
producer, Gareth Parton. It was released in spring 2008 and followed by an extensive tour of Europe and Japan.
In 2009, Asian Dub Foundation contributed to the Indigenous Resistance project after having met up with the Atenco resistance movement in Mexico. Asian Dub Foundation are at present working on their new album provisionally entitled "A New London Eye" which will feature Ministry of Dhol, Nathan "Flutebox" Lee, Chi 2 and Skrein.
Music
The 1995 song, Rebel WarriorRebel Warrior
Rebel Warrior appears on British musical group Asian Dub Foundation's first released cd, Facts and Fictions and also on group's fourth album, Community Music, under a slightly different arrangement...
, was inspired by the 1920s poem, "Bidrohi" by Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam , sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi, was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi...
, an advocate for Indian independence
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
. The song discusses the racial violence and inequality that the group state still plagues their British communities. Asian Dub Foundation have used their music in conjunction with education and social work for youth in the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
, as well as other British anti-racism
Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...
campaigns.
Like other groups in their genre such as Hustlers HC
Hustlers HC
Hustlers HC is an Asian Hip Hop group formed in 1991 in West London, England. The group consists of three Sikhs: 2 rappers, Hustler MC and Ski-Man, and DJ Mitts who functions the turntables....
and Fun-Da-Mental
Fun-Da-Mental
Fun-Da-Mental is a British-based multi-ethnic hip-hop–ethno-techno–world fusion music group formed in 1991. The group is notable for its energetic fusion of Eastern and Western musical forms, for its outspoken political stance, and for its strong Islamic affiliation and advocacy. Fun-Da-Mental's...
, Asian Dub Foundation fuse South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
n instrumentation and lyrics with the dominantly conceived black music
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
genre of rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
. Their music is able to signify a disruption in the racial/ethnic boundaries of hip hop. In their song, "Strong Culture", they assert their authenticity as legitimate Asian hip-hop artists, contrary to other popular claims. The line from the song, "I'm not a Black man / This time it's an Asian." likens back to when Asians were considered "Black" by some in the United Kingdom (UK) and often were part of that musical scene as Asian music had not fully emerged yet. Their lyrics call for radical political harmony and they use their music as an organizing tool for cultural politics, endorsing righteousness, social change, and an end to what they perceive as oppression in the UK. They also pursue the issue of the politicisation of the category "Asian," asserting the legitimacy and authenticity of having an Asian identity in the hip-hop world. They redefine the "Asian" category by reconnecting it with an anti-colonial history, as well a current, existing anti-racist struggle.
They challenge the argument that Asians are passive onlookers in popular culture who are hardly involved in the music industry. Their music functions to bridge the black influence with their own Asian style, using such lyrics as "I grab the mic to commence with the mic check. Supply rhymes, man you never heard yet, you've never thought an Asian could do this." Reckoning a traditional hip-hop MC style with their own Asian influence and simultaneously mixing in various other musical styles, thus disbanding the polarisation of the racial terms and addressing the "ongoing racialised violence and inequality evident in everyday experience in their neighbourhood".
Asian Dub Foundation
- Facts and FictionsFacts and FictionsFacts and Fictions is a Reggae/dub album by the British band Asian Dub Foundation. The album was originally released in 1995, on the Nation Records label...
(1995) - R.A.F.I.R.A.F.I.R.A.F.I. is a 1997 album by British electronica band Asian Dub Foundation. Initially released only in France, several of the tracks were later re-recorded and issued on Rafi's Revenge in 1998.- Track listing :# "Assassin"# "Change"# "Black White"...
(1997) (originally only released in France) - Rafi's RevengeRafi's RevengeRafi's Revenge is an album from 1998 by Asian Dub Foundation. The album mixed jungle-style drum and bass, bhangra, dub, breakbeat and punkish guitars with politically and socially conscious rapped lyrics....
(1998) UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
#20 - Conscious PartyConscious Party (Asian Dub Foundation album)Conscious Party is an album by Asian Dub Foundation, released in 1998. The album features live cuts of tracks from Rafi's Revenge as well as several remixes and the tracks "Tribute to John Stevens" and "Digital Underclass", both of which originally appeared on Rafi's Revenge -Track listing:All...
(1998) (originally only released in France) - Community MusicCommunity MusicCommunity Music is an album by British band Asian Dub Foundation, released on 20 March 2000. The album reached #20 in the UK album charts.-Track listing:All songs by Das, Pandit, Tailor, Savale, Zaman unless otherwise stated....
(2000) UK #20 - Frontline 1993-1997: rarities and remixesFrontline 1993-1997: rarities and remixesFrontline 1993–1997: Rarities and Remixes is a compilation album by the British electronica band Asian Dub Foundation. The album was released in 2001 and contains tracks recorded in 1993-1997.- Track listing :#"Witness "...
(2001) - Enemy of the EnemyEnemy of the EnemyEnemy of the Enemy is an album by British band Asian Dub Foundation, released on February 3, 2003-Track listing:#"Fortress Europe" – 3:50#"Rise to the challenge" – 4:25#"La haine" – 3:54#"1000 mirrors" – 4:55#"19 rebellions" – 5:22...
(2003) - Live: Keep Bangin' on the WallsLive: Keep Bangin' on the WallsLive: Keep Bangin' on the Walls is an album by British band Asian Dub Foundation, released on December 3, 2003.-Track listing:#"Cyberabad"#"Charge"#"Blowback"#"2 Face"#"Fortress Europe"#"Riddim I Like"#"New Way New Life"#"Rise to the Challenge"...
(2003) live at Ancienne BelgiqueAncienne BelgiqueThe Ancienne Belgique is a concert hall for contemporary music in Brussels, Belgium. Located in the historic heart of Brussels, it is one the leading concert venues in Belgium, hosting a wide variety of international and local acts.-The venue:... - TankTank (album)Tank is the sixth studio album by British alternative electronica band Asian Dub Foundation.-Track listing:# Flyover # Tank # Hope # Round Up # Oil # Powerlines # Who Runs the Place...
(2005) - Time Freeze: The Best of Asian Dub Foundation (2007)
- PunkaraPunkaraPunkara is the sixth studio album by the collective Asian Dub Foundation. It was recorded with The Go! Team producer, Gareth Parton at The Fortress Studios, London. It is the first album released with new singer Al Rumjen formerly of King Prawn. There was an advanced release in Japan on 26 March...
(2008) - A History of Now (2011)
Singles
- 1997 "Naxalite"
- 1998 "Free Satpal RamSatpal RamSatpal Ram is a British man of Asian descent who was charged and convicted of killing another man named Clarke Pearce in Birmingham, England during a fight in 1986...
" UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#56 - 1998 "Buzzin'" UK #31
- 1998 "Black White" UK #52
- 2000 "Real Great Britain" UK #41
- 2000 "New Way, New Life" UK #49
- 2003 "Fortress Europe" UK #57
- 2003 "1000 Mirrors" (feat. Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'ConnorSinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
) - 2011 "A History of Now"
Others
Asian Dub Foundation's music has been featured in several video game titles; "Flyover" in Burnout RevengeBurnout Revenge
Burnout Revenge is the fourth video game in the Burnout series of racing games, released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on September 13, 2005 and Xbox 360 on March 7, 2006, alongside the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS title Burnout Legends....
, "Rise To The Challenge" in FIFA Football 2004
FIFA Football 2004
FIFA Football 2004, also known as FIFA Soccer 2004 in North America, is a football video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It was released in October 2003 with the tagline "Create Brilliance"....
and Test Drive Unlimited
Test Drive Unlimited
Test Drive Unlimited is an arcade-style racing game, the 9th game of the Test Drive series, it features over 125 licensed sports cars and motorcycles and a terrain modeled after the Hawaiian island of Oahu that features some 1000 miles of roads and highways. Test Drive Unlimited is the ninth main...
, "Fortress Europe" in Need for Speed: Underground
Need for Speed: Underground
Need for Speed: Underground is the seventh racing game in the Need for Speed video game series developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts in 2003...
and "Burning Fence" in Need for Speed: Undercover
Need for Speed: Undercover
Need for Speed: Undercover is the 12th installment of the popular racing video game series Need for Speed, developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts . It was released on PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and mobile...
.
The song "Rebel Warrior
Rebel Warrior
Rebel Warrior appears on British musical group Asian Dub Foundation's first released cd, Facts and Fictions and also on group's fourth album, Community Music, under a slightly different arrangement...
" is featured in the film, The Fourth World War
The Fourth World War
The Fourth World War is a 2003 feature film directed by Rick Rowley.-External links:*...
. The song plays during a scene about the 1996-1997 general strike in South Korea
1996-1997 strikes in South Korea
In December 1996 and January 1997, South Korea experienced the largest organized strike in its history, when workers in the automotive and shipbuilding industries refused to work in protest against a law which was to make firing employees easier for employers and curtail labor organizing...
. They also have a part in the soundtrack for the film Vexille
Vexille
is a 2007 Japanese CGI anime film, written, directed, and edited by famed Ping Pong director Fumihiko Sori, and features the voices of Meisa Kuroki, Yasuko Matsuyuki, and Shosuke Tanihara....
.
External links
- Asian Dub Foundation's official website
- Rebel Uprising official website
- Rock i.D. aka Rocky Singh official website
- http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,880589,00.htmlThe GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 24 January 2003, Rappers with a cause] - Asian Dub Foundation's discography and news