Hamid Khan
Since he was a young boy, Hamid Khan had been fascinated by music.
Fortunately for him, he was always surrounded by friends and teachers who encouraged him to pursue his love for music. Through this support, he participated in many school concerts, not only that, Hamid Khan was also chosen by his class teacher, Mr. Cecil Augustin to join the teacher’s band to play drums and percussion.
Hamid Khan soon became a deft hand on the drums, percussion, guitar and also the vocals, picking up many other musical instruments on his own as time went on. At a later age, his skills in jazz, Latin, Afro, Hindi and Malay style music really blossomed, backed by a keen interest in research that led him to study other forms and arrangements of music like classical, semi-classical, sitar, and western music, which eventually led him to learning the piano.
During the “hippie era”, Hamid Khan learnt how to play the sitar, and even had the honor of meeting sitar maestro Pundit Ravi Shankar at the Merlin Hotel, Penang, who gave him good advice on how to play the instrument.
With this new burst of encouragement, Hamid Khan then developed his own technique of sitar scales and striking methodology, and with his varied influences, he assimilated the sitar with Latin and contemporary jazz music.
Being a multi-instrumentalist, Hamid Khan has performed all over Malaysia as well as Germany, Indonesia, Singapore and many others. Closer to home, he has also held court at the Kashmir Restaurant in Penang for 11 years as well as the Palace d’India for 6 years.