Niaz Khan

Niaz Khan (b.1993) is an instrument-maker, surmandal-player and singer. His father was an amateur flute-player, but used to work as an electrician professionally. He has two brothers and two sisters, and has two daughters as well. His family had no tradition of playing classical music, and in fact disapproved of his choice of music as a career. As a child he was a talented singer, which led him to appear on local PTV television programs for children. Eventually, he went on to learn singing from the world-famous singer Bade Fateh Ali Khan at the age of eight in Islamabad. Even though he was his main teacher, he also learned from Khan Sahib Sultan Fateh Ali Khan, Khan Sahib Rustam Ali Khan, Ustad Lal Khan, Ustad Arshad Haneen, Ustad Nawab Ali, Ustad Nazir Gul, Mir Tabassum and Khan Sahib Hamid Ali Khan.

He does not restrict himself to any one genre, singing and playing both folk and classical music in over eight languages. Other than the surmandal, he also knows how to make the rubab, chitrali sitar, sarinda, harmonium, tabla, dholak, druza, dhol and flute. His association with the surmandal started when he found a broken surmandal in Bade Fateh Ali Khan’s house. He started to tinker with it, upon which his teacher found him, and began to teach him the basics. Niaz Khan started an academy to teach children singing and playing music, in which some students are taught for free, known as the Khushhal Music School. He teaches many students currently through online apps such as Whatsapp or Messenger, and has visited many countries such as Afghanistan, Kuwait, India, Qatar, Iran, China and Russia to play music since 2006.