Hidayat Khan, sitar, was born in 1975 and is seventh in an unbroken line of generations of sitar players. He has inherited the legacies of legendary masters who arose from his family including his father, Ustad Vilayat Khan. His great-grandfather was the highly esteemed Imdad Khan and his grandfather was the great Inayat Khan. They are the only musical family that has recorded music of four generations. His grandmother's family included many vocalists, who influenced the musical style of his father, who then developed the "Gay Ki Ang," or vocal, style of sitar playing in which Pandit Khan is trained.
Pandit Khan was lured into music at the age of four when he began his first vocal lessons. His talent and perseverance led him to center stage when he gave his first public performance in Lucknow, India at the age of nine. He began taking an interest in sitar at the age of fourteen and since then, has continued training intensely. He also occasionally teaches interested sitar students.
Multidimensional is a word that can be used to describe this performer, as he has taken part in musical compositions for Indian films including Mira Nair's Kama Sutra. Recently he completed a background track for a Discovery Channel program on tigers called "Tracking a Legend."
His style and presence on stage leads audiences to be enraptured with his performances. Pandit Khan has already performed on a global level including appearances in Europe, Japan, USA, Canada, India, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, to name a few. Recently he completed a tour in Italy where the press commented on his ability to caress and invoke the primordial sound of creation (nada Brahma).