Asian dove foundation

Race. Asylum. Immigration. Terrorism. These words have become so much more loaded since we last encountered ADF. “It’s getting very stupid at the moment,” Pandit G wearily agrees while elaborating on their aptly titled latest album Enemy Of The Enemy. “The ambiguity of the track ‘Enemy Of The Enemy’ is all about Colin Powell, Rumsfeld and Bush. They’re all Christian fundamentalists who possess weapons of mass destruction. Well Rumsfeld certainly does because he went over in 1983 and sold them all the anthrax in the first place! It would be so farcical and so funny if it wasn’t so real. It’s a nightmare.”

Closer to home, immigration is possibly as contentious as its ever been. “In certain small towns in the UK, local referenda have made it acceptable to have a little apartheid where the refugees and asylum seekers are not allowed into certain parts of the town or a sports ground,” Pandit explains. “Somebody then realised that this might actually be illegal and contravene European and International Human Rights agreements. People are beginning to lump asylum seeker, economic migrant and now potential terrorist into the same bracket. Trade and money are allowed to cross borders but people aren’t.”

And the scaremongering and misinformation isn’t confined to the far right or the popular tabloid press.

“The Guardian last Friday wrote in a review, ‘ADF are campaigning for mass immigration’,” Pandit recalls. “And that’s supposed to be the liberal paper! In the Arts Section! That’s why we have such respect for Sinéad (O’Connor) and we are thrilled to have her on our album. She said a lot of things about the Catholic Church that people didn’t want to hear. A few years later it all turns out to be true.”

Asian Dub Foundation secured the stunning vocal services of Sinéad for her second major guest slot of 2003 by simply sending her a track.

“We sent her the song and she loved it,” says Pandit. “She recorded it while we were away and brought her own emotional textures to the track and her experience of domestic violence. Domestic violence is something we don’t talk about at all as a society.

“I think we’ve reached that stage in our career where we can be more open and flexible and work with more people and not be afraid of asking them,” Pandit laughs, referring to the album’s other special guest, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien. ADF played with Radiohead in 1997 at a huge Amnesty International Concert in Paris and have been in touch ever since.

Asian Dub Foundation are ferociously committed to both their music and their political convictions. They have persisted in all projects they have been involved in, from gaining funding from the London Arts Board to establish music education and technology initiatives (ADFED), to their relentless and ultimately successful campaign to free Saptal Ram.

“It wasn’t directly a result of our efforts but the fact is that so many people across the world in Ireland, Britain or wherever found out about the campaign and got involved, publicised it and wrote to the Home Office,” Pandit observes. “It saved the man’s life, there is no doubt about it. That vigilance and publicity was something the criminal justice system didn’t expect. If you can raise the issue and keep at it you can achieve a result.”