|| Concert Report (summer 2001) || Asian Dub Foundation  >

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Asian Dub Foundation - The best live-band in the world
(Click on the pics to enlarge them)

I'm sure that all people who have seen any concert of the Asian Dub Foundation would confirm this headline, since all performances always seem to be kind of a "Bengale firework" with their innovative rock music!
In summer 2001 in Karlsruhe at the festival "Das Fest" I had the chance of making this experience by myself.
About 2000 people had come together in front of the open air stage. And the concert that followed was beyond my wildest hopes and dreams.
From the beginning everybody was enthusiastic about the combination of hard "ragga-jungle rhythms", "Dub-bass", a breath of punkrock and rap-lyrics on the one hand and traditional Indian spiritual influences with sitar guitars and big dhol-drums on the other hand. The people started to dance, to rock and during the whole performance of the Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) they jumped up and down.
One of them has apparently been so fascinated that he ripped off his t-shirt and shouted all the time like crazy- "Asian Dub Foundation forever".
He even had a poster with him to show respect for Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan, since ADF has dedicated a song (TAA DEEM) to this Quwali singer from Pakistan who had died four years before.
The song mentioned, certainly was one of the high-lights of the show because of its mixture of Chandrasonic`s e-guitar and bumping breakbeatz.


When they started to play "New way new world" I couldn't keep myself from shouting out the text with all the others who also had started to sing.
The atmosphere was great and the musicians proved their talent for carrying away the audience. But in between times Chandrasonic (see group picture with us on the right) reminded the crowd insistently to be careful while jumping around because there are always people who don't care about the others and risk to hurt someone.
On the other side this behaviour is "understandable". It's really difficult to stay quiet and not to start moving when the band starts to play.
The oldest one of them is Dr. Das a really great supporter of St.Pauli who is always running on stage from one side to the other.
Hey, What´s that??? The sound of "Free Satpal Ram" is pushing his way through the crowd out of the boxes. Chandrasonic tells the story of Satpal Ram who is arrested in England and he also reminds the people always to fight against racism!
The two MC´s ( sorry I forgot about their names), both of them of the music school of Dr. Das and both very young (17 and 18), really easily performed their rhymes during the song.

And a few moments later one could could see a really impressing sight: the whole audience raised their fists in the air and shouted: "Free Satpal Ram!"
If he only could have seen this, he probably would have broken down of such a big response, but the cruel reality seems unfortunately to be a little bit different (more in a separate article further down).
Meanwhile Karlsruhe ( at least a part of it) has been taken away on a ride to Punjab.
There's nothing better than these Bhangra beatz.
The only thing a bit disappointing was the fact, that only six out of 2000 people were of Indian origin. That's a pity because I'm sure that the show would have been a delicacy to all of them, too.
But there will be a possibility to make up this failing next year when the new album is coming. They already have given us a little foretaste during the festival.
The four new songs, too, performed in this concert and taken from the new album contain the "ADF Beatz" to which we are used to and which we love!
Even the best concert has to come to an end sometimes, so Asian Dub Foundation said good - bye, but the audience didn't want them to go and has cried for minutes and appealed for an extra. Hence they played two more songs for the final good -bye, and the compere announced the H -Blockx as following group , which led to some sporadic "boos" among the visitors.
We didn't care what was going on now on stage and went backstage to have an interview with Asian Dub Foundations. "Community Music", an organization from London, was the principal means of starting Asian Dub Foundation . There, already Bass player "Dr. Das" has organized workshops for youngsters , mainly with an Asian ethnic background. He has encouraged them to path their own way in music, as well as using technical skills targeted like MIDI and sampling. In company with one of his participants, "Master D", then 15 years old, "Dr. Das" set up the group "Asian Dub Foundation". 
In cooperation with the Civil Rights activist "DJ Panfit G" , they attended both some concerts and Anti - Racism festivals. The line up has been full - blown since the guitarist Chandrasonic, a DJ and some dancers joined the group in 1995. Asian Dub Foundation both would like to arouse people's interest in Asian culture as well as inform about it by singing their revolutionary slogans, hook lines and refrains. They deserved their name as one of the best life bands due to concerts full of energy and the mixture of Punk - Rock and Dance floor, which appeals to a colourful audience.

Racism and "Asian Underground " are again main topics of the interview. "Asian Dub Foundation" holds social injustice responsible for daily race clashes in England, which occurs obviously or hooded. Not every Indian in Great Britain works in a high position such as a lawyer or a physician. Most of them are unemployed and have an unknown prospect. This leads to frustration, which explodes in street fights with the police like some months ago in England. Chandrasonic blames the malfunction of British Politics for the conflicts in England. Moreover the rant of the labour party, which pledges a lot but never translates anything in public policy. Asian Dub Foundation underlines : "Our home is London, but unfortunately we are living in one of the most racist countries in the world so we have to deal with it in our songs.
The society has to accept that we are part of it and that we are calling ourselves British Asians". DJ Pandit J, the civil rights activist, starts to talk about the injustice of American Politics. Nobody is in duty to add further more. He quotes some recent researches to illustrate that the group has an excellent knowledge of what's going on in the world. The Asian Dub Foundation doesn't like to be called a "political band", they are first of all musicians and deal with different problems in their songs. The media always need an expression to describe them, although the band doesn't like to be put in this branch.
Asian Dub Foundation like the song "Get your freak on" from Missy Eliot and demonstrate their respect to her and Timberland. They are working at the moment on their new album, which will be released next February or March. It also contains features from people of "Music Community" to show their ability on the international market. I hope to see all at an Asian Dub Foundation concert ! Peace ! 

Asian Dub Foundation Albums:

1995 - 'Facts and Fictions' (Nation Records)
1997 - 'R.A.F.I.' (Virgin France)
2000 - 'Community Music' (Londonrecords)

More info: www.asiandubfoundation.com

"Free Satpal Ram" (picture taken from www.asiandubfoundation.com)