The Basque Dub Foundation is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 reggae band, started in the early 1990s as studio project by Iñaki Yarritu, a London based reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 musician originally from the Basque Country

Basque Country (autonomous community)

The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....

 (northern Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

). Iñaki moved into music production in the late 1980s, having being previously involved in reggae since the late 1970s as a radio DJ

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

, journalist and promoter. In their early days Basque Dub Foundation got a gig as Disc Jockeys playing records opening up for Mad Professor

Mad Professor

Mad Professor is a dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He is a prolific producer, contributing to or...

 . in 1997 BDF released their debut album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Sustraidun Roots Dub (Massive Sounds - 1997) ("Sustraidun" is Basque

Basque language

Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...

 for "Rootical").

After this release BDF, evolved into a live band specialising in roots reggae

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...

 and dub. Incorporating a full line-up of musicians. BDF supported international tours by major artists such as The Wailers

Wailers Band

The Wailers Band are a reggae band formed by the remaining members of Bob Marley & The Wailers‎, following the death of Bob Marley in 1981.-Previous Wailers' incarnations:The Wailers‎ started as Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh...

, Culture

Culture (band)

Culture was a Jamaican roots reggae group founded in 1976. Originally they were known as the African Disciples.The members of the trio were Joseph Hill , Albert Walker and Kenneth Dayes ....

, Burning Spear

Burning Spear

Winston Rodney, OD , also known as Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician. Burning Spear is known for his Rastafari movement messages.-History:...

 and Lee Perry.

In 2002, BDF released their second album, BDF meets Loud & Lone (Brixton Records). BDF provided the riddim

Riddim

Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm," but in dancehall/reggae parlance it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song. Thus, a dancehall song consists of the riddim plus the "voicing" sung by the deejay. The resulting song structure may be taken for...

s and Loud & Lone were in charge of the vocals. '

In recent years, BDF has been touring in France and Spain, and playing as a backing band for Jamaican reggae artists such as Alton Ellis

Alton Ellis

Alton Nehemiah Ellis, OD, was a Jamaican musician best known as one of the innovators of rocksteady music and was often referred to as the "Godfather of Rocksteady". In 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards Hall Of Fame.-Biography:Ellis was born in 1938 and...

, Earl Sixteen

Earl Sixteen

Earl Sixteen is a reggae singer whose career began in the mid-1970s.-Biography:Daley grew up in Waltham Park Road, Kingston, and, influenced by American soul and Jamaican artists such as Dennis Brown, began his singing career by entering local talent shows...

, Anthony Johnson

Anthony Johnson

Anthony Johnson is the name of:* Anthony Johnson , American film actor* Anthony Johnson , a freedman of African descent in early Virginia* Anthony Johnson , NFL running back...

 and U Brown

U Brown

U Brown aka New Roy, Hugh Brown, Nuroy is a reggae deejay who released eleven albums between 1976 and 1984.-Biography:...

.