For almost 15 years, Asian Dub Foundation has delivered uncompromising messages of social change - looking at prejudice against Britons of Asian descent. Alarmed by the number of inner-city youngsters turning to gangs, the group formed Asian Dub Foundation Education (ADFED) as a way of getting them back on track.
The nomadic Touareg tribes have endured years of drought and civil war. The one constant through this hardship has been the music of Tinariwen. Once a group of rebel soldiers, training alongside Colonel Gadaffi in Libya, after years of struggle and violence Tinariwen decided to lay down their guns and fight with a different weapon - music.
Seun Kuti is carrying the weight of one of the heaviest musical legacies in Africa. He is the youngest son of Fela Anikelapu Kuti, the creator of Afrobeat and the voice of Nigeria's disenfranchised. Seun is motivated by endemic corruption and the abuse of Nigeria's youth.
It is a simple request - clean water and sanitation. Afflicted by polio as a child, Feliciano Dos Santos was determined to make sure that young citizens of his native Mozambique do not suffer the lack of sanitation that spreads disease. This message has become central to the music of his band, Massoukos.
Nuno Santos (aka Chullage) is a Cape Verdean living in Portugal. Half of his fellow Cape Verdeans in Lisbon do not have official documents and live on the fringe of society. Like so many migrants from this small African island, he faces discrimination daily. His music tries to redress this injustice.
Vigario Geral is one of the most dangerous, drug-invested, suburbs, or favelas, in Brazil. Shootings are a daily occurrence but it was the massacre of 21 residents by police that sparked a remarkable music group. Anderson Sá turned his back on drug dealing and crime and formed AfroReggae - a group devoted to providing an alternative to the children in the favela.
