End of an aria for Libya's Colonel Gadaffi

Reinforcing our controversial contention of a few weeks ago that opera is the new cocaine, we find that Asian Dub Foundation are currently working on Colonel Gadaffi - The Opera, wrotes Brian Boyd.

The Anglo-Asian rock 'n' beats group have turned to the world of fat ladies and people being constantly stabbed with daggers for the simple reason that no record company would touch their project.

You'll remember that the English National Opera (ENO) made their début at this year's Glastonbury and you'll also know that Jerry Springer - The Opera (which, despite being funny, is actually an opera) continues to do good box-office.

Perhaps, though, the main reason ADF are hitting the opera houses is because of the huge critical success afforded John Adams's production of Nixon in China, which features Nixon and the abhorrent Henry Kissinger singing at the top of their lungs to hardcore opera fans every night.

Obviously everyone involved in popular music is too busy these days trying to tweak the Pop Idol format and discovering irritants like McFly to attempt something as creatively audacious as this.

No better band to give it a go. From their Mercury-nominated album Rafi's Revenge onwards, ADF have always been up for a bit of cross-collaboration. They've already provided a soundtrack for Kassovitz's film La Haine and last year were seen at the Venice biennale on a project involving "a sixth-century Indian poem set in Guantanamo Bay".

Chandrasonic from the band explains that he's had the idea about doing something musically on Gadaffi for a few years - "though I might not have called it an opera". Gadaffi, of course, is now in a new political place - having exchanged the company of one set of grubby war criminals for another.

"When I was much younger, all of a sudden this person popped into the press who was completely demonised and seen as the mad dog, and recently we have seen this journey from demonisation to rehabilitation," says Chandrasonic of his subject. "I think it is to do with the nature of his character and the nature of his thinking. The fact is, he is frightening but fascinating, the way he has pushed himself onto the world stage. We don't intend doing a factual biography of the man, but rather to explore the myth and counter-myth around him. This is somebody who until quite recently was considered a 'mad dog' and 'desert scum', but has ended up shaking hands with Tony Blair."

As well as considering the rather sudden rehabilitation of the man, the work will take a broader look at perceptions of Islam. Chandrasonic will look at everything from from the politics of oil to Gadaffi's attempts to "update the Koran with democratic, radical proposals". Gadaffi's role in the Lockerbie bombing and the killing of policewoman Yvonne Fletcher will also be examined. "There's a lot to this," he says, "and not just the obvious. There's a bigger picture that can be explored here - the lack of understanding between the Middle East and the West."

For Chandrasonic, the opera world is now the repository of most creative musical thought. "I think with opera, the perception used to be that it was the music of the establishment," he says. "But no one else would do a project like this. What it does is make the record companies look conservative. I think for Asian Dub Foundation this is all about taking over a different space for different people with new ideas and sounds. It will be interesting to see how Gadaffi himself reacts when he hears about the opera.".

It's certainly a bit of leap from dire musicals about Queen and Rod Stewart - and all the more interesting for that.