Biography
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Born
16 April 1972
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Born In
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
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Died
19 May 2015 (aged 43)
Saifullah "Sam" Zaman (16 April 1965 – 19 May 2015), also 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.
Zaman was born in Karachi, Pakistan and lived in Ankara, Amman, and Dhaka before moving in London, England at the age of eight.
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 brother Deedar Zaman (later associated with the Asian Dub Foundation), and MC Mustaq (lead rapper for Fun-Da-Mental). 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.
State of Bengal was a DJ at the Anokha club in London' 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 2000, 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 2007, State of Bengal released his last album Skip-IJ.
On 20 May 2015, Zaman died of an apparent cardiac arrest at the age of 50.
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