Pride of the Underdog

Deeder Zaman, Co-founder & Original Emcee of the Asian Dub Foundation

Rebel Uprising: seriously social sounds that combine activist urgency with soul.

Deeder is best known as the former lead singer of Asian Dub Foundation. His debut album Facts and Fictions (Nation Records) came out in 1995, a combination of hard ragga-jungle rhythms, bengali-dub bass lines, cutting sitar-like guitars and inspired by the articulation of rappers such as Chuck D and KRS1.

1998′s album Rafi’s Revenge (London Records) was greeted with great critical acclaim and received a Mercury Prize nomination as well as the BBC Asian Award for Music. Already considered one of Britain’s most exciting live bands, this album helped to take the band to a wider audience.

Deeder was nine years old when he first started making music and performed his first live performance aged eleven. In 1993, aged fourteen he teamed up with DJ Pandit G and bassist Dr. Das. Guitarist Chandrasonic and Sun-J soon followed completing the line-up.

Back in 1995, to be ‘Asian’ was yet to be considered ‘cool.’ In Europe however, ADF were able to tour a great deal and develop their performance skills. Their musical and lyrical content was met with enthusiasm, particularly in France where Virgin (France) released their second album Real Areas For Investigation (R.A.F.I.) in 1997. That summer ADF toured the UK with Primal Scream, who ultimately played a role in bringing them to the forefront of the British media.

ADF signed with London Records and spent most of 1998-2001 touring, consolidating their reputation for uplifting live sets and for attracting diverse audiences. They performed at many major festivals in the UK and the rest of Europe as well as at Fuji Rock in Japan. A Beastie Boys support tour brought them to the US where ADF received a warm welcome.

ADF completed their first headlining tour of the US and Canada in 1999 getting an excellent response, with the majority of dates being sold out. Community Music was released in March 2000; this album veered away from ‘jungle-punk’ and focused on a more meditative approach with the addition of strings and horns. The album was toured in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Japan and received a 10/10 in the NME. At the end of 2000 Deeder made the momentous decision of leaving ADF after seven years of working to help bring the band to international recognition.

In 2002 Deeder formed Rebel Uprising, working closely with Trevor Boucaud aka Passion and Dennis Rootical, bass player of the the UK dub soundsystem Iration Steppas. In 2008 Deeder released his first album as a solo artist Minority Large (under the name Deeder Zaman) in Japan on the BeatInk record label. Collaborators on the album include:

Brendan Lynch of the Lynch Mob Productions (producer of Primal Scream and Paul Weller)
Tony Penultimate of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
The Crispy Horns Section (Zion Train)
Ghetto Priest, Reggae vocalist from the On U Sound stables
Dennis Rootical of Iration Steppas Soundsystem
Clotaire K, French rapper and Oud player
Louis Beckett, Dub producer, the son of famous horns player Harry Beckett
Alok Verma, Tabla and percussion player
and Lesley Naylor, Dub producer

Currently Deeder is working with legendary dub soundman Adrian Sherwood, founder of the On-U-Sound stables on finishing his second album ‘Pride of the Underdog’ which is due for release on Modulor records 21st November 2011 (Europe and Japan). Collaborators on the album include:

Skip McDonald, Guitarist and vocalist of Little Axe and Tackhead
The Crispy Horns Section (Zion Train)
Dr Das, former Bass player of the Asian Dub Foundation
Ghetto Priest, Reggae vocalist from the On U Sound stables
Valarie Skeete, Vocalist of Akabu
Dennis Rootical of Iration Steppas Soundsystem
Alok Verma, Tabla and percussion player
Simon Haenggi, Keyboard player of Scrucialists
and Elaine Cheng, Dub vocalist

To be kept updated with Deeder’s work please sign up to the mailing list at www.deederzaman.com

Other Sites

www.myspace.com/deederzaman
www.facebook.com/deeder.zaman.music
www.facebook.com/deeder.zaman
www.twitter.com/deederzaman
www.youtube.com/rebeluprisng
www.reverbnation.com/deederzaman
www.soundcloud.com/deederzaman
www.flickr.com/photos/deederzaman

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