Flash Sitar (Pakistan / USA)

Farhan Khan, known professionally as Flash Sitar, is a Pakistani-born sitarist and producer whose music bridges South Asian classical traditions with electronic and global grooves. Originally from Karachi, he has cultivated a distinctive blend of East and West has led to collaborations with artists across genres, including an appearance on Ministry’s 2021 album Moral Hygiene. Khan has performed with Fontain’s M.U.S.E., earning accolades such as an honorable mention in the Billboard World Song Competition, and his music has appeared in the film The Con Is On. Based in Los Angeles, he is a familiar presence at the Santa Monica Pier, sharing his melodic, culturally diverse sound with audiences from around the world.

Featured Songs:

Flash Sitar’s version of the iconic “Hotel California," showcased on Putumayo Discovery's Lounge World, brings an Indian twist to this classic melody from The Eagles. The sitar’s associations with 1960s counterculture make it a fitting instrument to interpret a song whose lyrics are often interpreted as a commentary on some of the negative results that came from that era’s freewheeling ways.

His Instrumental Odyssey track, “Yoga Meditation 1,” layers Khan’s resonant sitar, the iconic plucked string instrument of North Indian classical music, over tabla (North Indian hand drums) played by Neel K. Agrawal, the airy, pastoral tones of the bansuri (bamboo flute) performed by Mithun Kumar Bairagi, and the steady drone of the tanpura (a long-necked lute that provides harmonic resonance in South Asian music) played by Fontain Riddle. Ashish Budakoti contributed electronic, downtempo beats and gentle keyboard textures.

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