THE JUNGLE MISSIVE

AS FAR as militant Nation Records stars-in-waiting ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION see it, the super-liberal wet dream of that classless multiracial 1990's Britain we keep hearing about is a steaming great turd of a lie. Their aim, in the nicest possible way, is to rub our faces in that turd.

ADF use every weapon in their muisical arsenal to demolish bullshit stereotypes. In the process, they make powerful records like their current 'Strong Culture' EP, a kneecap-crunching collision of rock, reggae, bhangra, jungle and the machine-gun poetry of 16-year-old rapper Master D. This isn't some polite laboratory hybrid, more like 1000 street-music soundbites crammed into a high-speed blender.
"It's not designed to sound Asian, but it's a reflection of what it means to be Asian in this country, which is basically diverse," argues Steve 'Chandrasonic' Savale. "It's a reflection of all the things we were brought up on: classical sitar music, punk, hip-hop, funk, acid-house..."

Steve was a founding member of ambient wibblers Higher Intelligence Agency, but quit after discovering most of the blinkered groovers he was mixing with believed the BNP was an ace new techno outfit. Even now, there is no lower term of abuse in the ADF ranks than 'New Ager'. Except maybe 'liberal'. They are not here to chill-out. They aim to agitate, educate, organise ...

"Our interpretation of politics isn't just left or right, Labour Party or whatever", explains Ani 'Doctor' Das, who built ADF out of the music workshops he runs for Asian youngsters in East London. "The type of politics we propose is locally based. It relates to the teaching we do here, helping people to take part and get autonomous. We want to present something practical." Examples? How about the two Asian kids who dropped out of Ani's workshop. He was livid until he discovered his classes had inspired them to get jobs for the first time in their lives. "OK, it's not like throwing some government out," he laughs, "but it's something practical."

More ambitiously, ADF members were out in force when BNP's Derek Beackon lost his seat in Tower Hamlets last year. Just before the election they played a show in the racism-stricken heartland: not the sort of easy-option armchair liberalism most bands favour.

"We target people", nods John Pandit, ADF's political strategist. "Last year we played Tower Hamlets College just before the May elections. We were involved in a strategy of defeating the fascists. We told people to get off their arses and vote and those few votes might have made the difference. Then we spent election day organising the youth there..."

"It's small scale," concludes Steve, "but if you're talking about politicisation, just doing this music challenges a lot of nonsense that's still perceived about Asian people, like the George Harrisom hippy notions of Indian people somehow being more spiritual. All that is just shit."

Stephen Dalton