I bumped into good old State of Bengal in my Net searches because I had Bangladesh on my mind – but those thoughts are addressed better in the post after this. “State of Bengal” once did refer to a group, but nowadays, it just means this one guy – with a number of people here and there, like Rosina Kazi (the singer in this video) and Suzana Ansar.
The individual named State of Bengal spent most of his life in London, though Wikipedia tells us he was actually born in Pakistan. He picked up the name “State of Bengal” because he was inspired by a trip to Bangladesh, where he made connections with a bunch of musicians, etc. But what he does most, as far as I can tell, is a very UK-based blend of electronica and hip-hop.
I posted this video because it’s an anti-war video, and a moving one at that. The song’s interesting too – but, then, most of his are.
state of bengal was born in east pakistan, pre independance, and hence present day bangladesh. He came from Bangladesh as a youngster before settling in the uk with his whole family.
His music is very interesting, especially love his treatment of rhythm and beats. Hes worked with other british bangladesh artistes such as suzana ansar alongside artistes from all ethnics backgrounds in his work til date.
Hi. Thanks for this clarification. The Wikipedia entry that I referred to mentioned that he was born in Pakistan; it didn’t specify “East.” I couldn’t find his exact date of birth, but I deduced that he had to be somewhere close to my age (considering he did DJ sets going back to about 1980), so of course, he was born before Bangladesh declared independence (in 1971).