Asian Dub Foundation: La Haine

A landmark film gets a new live soundtrack of searing junglist beats, indo-dub bass lines, and funked-out guitars, for a unique and powerful journey between music and film.

In an inspired synthesis, Asian Dub Foundation layers their edgy alternative breakbeats over Mathieu Kassovitz's landmark Cannes-winning film to create a powerful new original soundtrack for the 1995 cinematic classic La Haine.
First performed at the Barbican in early 2001, rapturous reviews of the band’s musical interpretation of the unadulterated film was one of the very first of what is now a common medium. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, and Saïd Taghmaoui, the 1995 French social thriller, crime, and drama film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, chronicles a day and night in the lives of three friends from a poor immigrant neighborhood in the suburbs of Paris. La Haine earned Kassovitz the Best Director prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
“..and with the Asian Dub Foundation in place to soundtrack the feature, the opening scenes …played out to the sound of hard ragga-jungle rhythms, indo-dub basslines and searing sitar-inspired guitars. For 98 mins ADF's live score overlaid the French dialogue and action leaving the audience with only the subtitles and actors to guide you through the intense story. Altogether, a reimagining of the live orchestra and silent film presentations for the modern, urban age.” - Huffington Post

Biography

Asian Dub Foundation
Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) is a genre unto itself. Their unique combination of tough jungle rhythms, dub bass lines, and wild guitar overlaid by references to their South Asian roots and high-speed rap has established them as one of the best live bands in the world. During their long and productive career, Asian Dub Foundation has shared the stage with the likes of Rage Against The Machine, the Beastie Boys, and Primal Scream also collaborating on record with the likes of Radiohead, Sinead O’ Connor, Iggy Pop, and Chuck D.

The story began in the early 90’s when ADF formed from a music workshop in East London at the institution which is their spiritual home, Community Music. Their unique beginnings in a music workshop in east London marked out both their sound and their wider educational aspirations, as showed by their early involvements with Roma Youth in Budapest, hooking up with the legendary Afro Reggae in the favelas of Rio, and setting up their own education organization ADF Education (ADFED), not to mention their campaigns on behalf of those suffering miscarriages of justice. Building a solid live reputation in the mid-90s, particularly in France, they eventually established themselves as an important worldwide force and particularly as an explosive alternative to the backward-looking obsession with Britpop in the UK.

In addition to their blistering live reputation, ADF was one of the first bands to experiment with the now more commonplace live film re-score, beginning with their rapturously received interpretation of the French classic La Haine back in 2001. They’ve continued to perform said project for nearly two decades, taking in David Bowie’s Meltdown at London’s South Bank
They’ve also rescored George Lucas’ debut THX 1138 (with encouragement from Mr. Lucas himself) and they’ve recently revived their explosive live interpretation of the continually relevant Battle of Algiers at the Museum of Immigration in Paris.

It was a busy 2019 for Asian Dub Foundation with the long-awaited reissue of their Mercury Prize-nominated 1998 classic Rafi’s Revenge. The reissue garnered ecstatic reviews, all of which agreed that the sound and the message that ADF threw down in 1998 are as relevant now as it was perhaps even more so.

In 2020 the band released their 9th album “Access Denied” which found them as uncompromising as ever. The album showcases ADF in full spectrum mode from the tough Jungle Punk sound of “Stealing The Future” and “Mindlock” through to the orchestral meditation of “Realignment” and the reggae lament of the title track. With guest spots from Greta Thunberg, incendiary Palestinian shamstep warriors 47 Soul, Chilean revolt’s rap main figure Ana Tijoux and radical UK comedian Stewart Lee, Asian Dub Foundation kicks harder and higher than ever.



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