Birth name Saifullah Zaman Role DJ Name State Bengal | Origin London, England Also known as Sam Zaman | |
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Born 16 April 1965
Karachi, Pakistan ( 1965-04-16 ) Genres Hip hop
Indian classical
electronica
breakbeat
house
drum 'n' bass
dub Occupation(s) DJ
music producer
musician Instruments Turntables
bass
electronic drums
percussion Died May 19, 2015, United Kingdom Music director Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music Albums Visual Audio, Walking On, Skip-IJ, Tana Tani, Elephant Ride Record labels Real World Records, Six Degrees Records, Virgin Records, EMI Records Similar People Paban Das Baul, Talvin Singh, Bjork, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan | ||
State of Bengal Dj and Interactive Drum set featuring Mathis Richet New Delhi, India May 2012
Saifullah "Sam" Zaman (16 April 1965 – 19 May 2015), known by the stage name State of Bengal, was a British DJ and music producer of Bangladesh descent associated with the UK and Asian Underground movement.
Contents
- State of Bengal Dj and Interactive Drum set featuring Mathis Richet New Delhi India May 2012
- State of bengal tana tani 02 kali
- Early life
- Career
- Personal life and death
- References
State of bengal tana tani 02 kali
Early life
Zaman was born in Karachi, Pakistan and lived in Ankara, Amman, and Dhaka before moving in London, England at the age of eight. His father is a homeopathic doctor.
Career
In 1987, Zaman set up the State of Bengal group in London after a visit to Noakhali, Bangladesh, where he interacted with traditional folk musicians and dancers. Original members of the group included his youngest brother Deeder Zaman (later became vocalist of Asian Dub Foundation) who was seven, and MC Mushtaq (later became the lead rapper for Fun-Da-Mental) who was 15. Outside of the State of Bengal project, Zaman also worked with British Asian youth groups, setting up music training workshops. After working in a variety of communities from across the country, they founded a record company called Betelnut Productions.
Formerly a teacher, Zaman worked at youth centres. State of Bengal was a DJ at the Anokha club in London's East End during the mid-1990s. His tracks "Flight IC408" and "Chittagong Chill" – written and produced with Matt Mars – were featured on Anokha – Soundz of the Asian Underground compilation, and helped him gain prominence. Singer Björk discovered his work at Anokha; he opened with the homeogenic world tour, and remix her track "Hunter" after hearing the original "Hunter" by State of Bengal in September 1996, thereby signing to the One Little Indian record label. After Anokha, State of Bengal took up residency at the Off Centre club nights, he produced his debut album Visual Audio in 1998 and then toured solo at several international festivals, and did extensive remix work.
After the release of Visual Audio in 2001, State of Bengal worked on two projects with musicians from Bengal, collaborating with Indian sitar innovator Ananda Shankar on the 2000 album Walking On and with Baul singer Paban Das Baul on the 2004 album Tana Tani (Push and Pull). In 2008, he remixed Massive Attack's album Mezzanine. In 2007, Zaman's second solo album Skip-IJ was released. Subsequently, alongside music work and DJing, Zaman went back to teaching kids and conducting music workshops.
Personal life and death
In 2001, Zaman played in Dhaka, Chittagong and Kolkata. This was the first time he visited Bangladesh in 13 years.
On 19 May 2015, Zaman died of an apparent cardiac arrest from a suspected heart attack. Zaman was divorced and survived by his young son, Sage.
On 15 June 2017, the British Plaque Trust honoured Zaman by unveiling a Blue Plaque in his home and studio, East London, where all his albums were created and his eclectic music collection was housed.