People say you should keep politics out of music — fuck that. 'Cause folk music, the whole British tradition, the Third World tradition, is all about contemporary discourse on what's happening at the time. Soca music, reggae music — all the stuff I love has always been about that.

— John Pandit

ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION

Asian Dub Foundation are 21st century MIDI warriors. 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.

They started off in 1993 at London based organization Community Music where bassist Dr Das taught music technology. He teamed up with one of his students, rapper Deeder Zaman and civil rights worker DJ Pandit G to form a sound system to play at anti-racist gigs. The following year they recruited guitarist Chandrasonic and started moving further afield. With Sun-J joining in 1995 on live technology and 'radical movements,' the line-up was complete.

ADF's forceful presence has helped to demolish many stereotypes of Asian musicians and by extension, Asian people. An acknowledgement of this came in the form of the BBC Asian Award for Music in December 1998.

Link: http://www.asiandubfoundation.com

DISCOGRAPHY FOR ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION