Born Saifullah Zaman in Pakistan, Sam grew up in London. A trip to Bangladesh in 1987 inspired him to fuse Bengali folk and Western dance music. Others in the band are Marque Edmund Gilmore, Matthew Mars-Jones, Paul Ramjack and Susmita Banerjee. In live performance, Matt triggers sounds from his sampler through a midi pickup on his guitar in combination with playing through the guitar's conventional pickups. In his music nothing is too pure.
Influences are wide open.
She has been with the State of Bengal for a year. With a degree in dance from Bristol University, she has worked with such acclaimed choreographers as Daksha Seth, Roger Sinha and the late Ranjabati Sircar. As a vocalist, she had teamed up with the Moroccan percussionist Lahcen Lahabib's band Momo. His unique music has been released on Pink Plonk, Brainiak and Irdial Discs. He has set up his own studios and worked with artists such as the Asian Dub Foundation for whom he appears on the Community Music Album.