Abdurakhim Khamidov, Uzbekistan

Abdurahim Hamidov (1952 - 2013), the great master of Uzbek dutar. Abdurahim Hamidov was born in 1952, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His ancestors were merchants, his father and grandfather were mullahs. He began learning music at the age of six by singing the entire repertoire of children's songs. A year later he began playing the rabab, a long-necked lute; and at the age of nine he developed a passion for the dutar, another type of long-necked lute, and had his first lessons on it. His repertoire consisted of lively, modern virtuosic melodies like those on radio and television.