Asian Dub Foundation

<p>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. <br>
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They started off in 1993 at London based organisation 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. </p>
<p>Their debut album 'Facts and Fictions' (Nation Records) came out in 1995 and was largely overlooked by a country obsessed with retro guitar pop. And at that time, to be 'Asian' was yet to be considered 'cool.' On the continent however, ADF were given ample opportunity to tour and develop their performance skills. Their musical and lyrical package was met with considerable enthusiasm, especially in France where their second album 'R.A.F.I.' was released by Virgin France in 1997. The following year's 'Rafi's Revenge' was in fact a re-recorded, recharged version of R.A.F.I, energised through extensive live playing. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>The beginning of 2002 saw long-time inspiration <a href="http://www.bigupradio.com/artistDetail.jsp?aid=1">Adrian Sherwood</a> come on board as executive producer of the new album, restoring focus to a project slightly derailed by the swapping of labels. Sherwood, amongst other things, brought in new producers/programmers such as Jaswad to contemporise some of the beats and sounds.</p>