thu 28/03/2024

Asian Dub Foundation - Music of Resistance, Brighton Dome | reviews, news & interviews

Asian Dub Foundation - Music of Resistance, Brighton Dome

Asian Dub Foundation - Music of Resistance, Brighton Dome

Dance-punk rebels rip it up as festival openers

Asian Dub Foundation opened the Brighton Festival 2011 in suitably ebullient style

It's been a while since I've spent time with Asian Dub Foundation. In the mid-Nineties, when they first appeared, they were one of the most exciting acts around and I enthused about them in print at every opportunity. They were born of an east-London community music project, mashing up the then-new sounds of drum and bass with agitprop showmanship and anti-racist politics. The result was a visceral live act that fitted as well beside the rising Brit-Asian wave (Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney, Badmarsh & Shri, etc) as with punky post-Levellers roots rock.

It's been a while since I've spent time with Asian Dub Foundation. In the mid-Nineties, when they first appeared, they were one of the most exciting acts around and I enthused about them in print at every opportunity. They were born of an east-London community music project, mashing up the then-new sounds of drum and bass with agitprop showmanship and anti-racist politics. The result was a visceral live act that fitted as well beside the rising Brit-Asian wave (Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney, Badmarsh & Shri, etc) as with punky post-Levellers roots rock.

The eye is drawn to the incessantly grinning percussionist Pritphal Rajput, clad in a leather-effect shalwar kameez

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