State of Bengal

The State of Bengal is more than a territory in India. State of Bengal is also a band that emerged from Britain's burgeoning Asian Underground scene, the brainchild of Sam Zaman, and their Visual Audio (Six Degrees) album confirms Zaman's status as one of the leaders of the ethno-techno genre, melding Asian sounds and influences with dance beats.

"Visual Audio was always going to be a journey."

"The Asian Underground looked like a movement, which it doesn't now," noted Zaman. "Everyone is still doing their own thing, which is sometimes better. The roots were sown quite a long time ago, and they've developed."

The movement got its start in London's Anokha club nights, organized by tablatronics guru Talvin Singh, and was documented on the 1997 album, Anokha: Soundz of the Asian Underground, where State of Bengal was represented by "Flight IC408" and "Chittagong Chill," two tracks that reappear on Visual Audio.

"Visual Audio was always going to be a journey, and those tracks were always going to be part of that journey," Zaman said, defending their inclusion.

Born in Indian, Zaman, now 35, lived in Bangladesh, Turkey, and Jordan before arriving in London's East End at the age of eight, where "I found a lot of racism when I was younger. Music became a focus for me. The area I lived in had one other Asian family."

Music became a refuge for him, and at the age of 15, inspired by hip-hop, he began deejaying "for community organizations and anti-racist conferences."

"The whole process of deejaying was never about me," Zaman said. Instead it was fundraising for causes, or to get kids involved in setting up their own gigs. Out of that grew the State of Bengal sound system, whose rappers included MC Mustaq, who went on to Asian rap band Fun-Da-Mental and Zaman's brother MC Deedar, now with Asian Dub Foundation.

Anokha proved to be a seminal experience for Zaman. Out of it came not only a number of remix jobs (including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Massive Attack) but also a chance to be the opening deejay on Bjork's world tour, which has led to him "working on a lot more vocals for my next album, and with lots of different singers from all over the world."

It also brought him in contact with the late sitar master Ananda Shankar. At Anokha, Zaman had organized a tribute night to Shankar, and "someone told him about it, so a few months later I was asked if I'd like to work with him. Then about a year later I produced the Walking On album (The Ananda Shankar Experience and State of Bengal). After that we did some gigs in the U.K."

For Zaman it proved to be a musical turning point. Not because he was with one of his idols, but because he was forced to learn an instrument. "We organized the Indian and British musicians. Then I realized there was no bass player!" he laughed. "So I had to learn. During the writing and rehearsal period I had [vivhitra veena player] Dr. Gopal Shankar Misra teaching me, guitarist Matt Mars teaching me, and Shankar teaching me. So in the space of three weeks I was playing bass. You can hear where I fluff up a bit. But if you put your mind to something, it can be done."

These days Zaman plays bass onstage with his own band, with Mars and American drummer Marque Gilmore, reproducing the sounds of Visual Audio and pushing the music into new realms. But even though the album has finally been released, Zaman's biggest thrill is still ahead.

"One of my biggest dreams was to take the music back home and play to my people. In February we're doing gigs in Bangladesh and Calcutta, so after so long the State of Bengal goes to the State of Bengal!"

State of Bengal

"Visual Audio was always going to be a journey."

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