Hammarsing Kharhmar

Hammarsing Kharhmar is a musician, guitarist, vocalist, and music director based in Shillong, Meghalaya. He is a leading guitarist in one of the most popular American bands called The Strokes. He is the son of a Shillong-based businessman named Prabhat Sawyan, and his elder brother is Larsing Ming Sawyan, who is the managing director of Shillong Lajong Football Club. Hammar completed his schooling at St Edmund's School in Shillong and later went to Delhi to study Economics at St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

After that, he decided to learn music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. Then, he moved to New York Click to look into! >> Read More... and started a band called Mon Khmer at the Big Apple. He also worked on a solo project called Exhibition, whose song titled ‘No One There’ was sung by a popular American singer, Julian Fernando Casablancas. Kharhmar was offered to work with The Strokes in 2007 when he had just moved to New York and was working at a hip Chinese restaurant in Williamsburg.

One day he got a phone call from The Stroke’s guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr, who got his number from Kharhmar’s cousin.  He e-mailed him a few songs and asked Kharhmar to come to a recording studio for an audition in Times Square. Kharhmar initially thought it was a joke, but when he reached the studio, he met Hammond Jr and later got selected to work with the band on Coldplay’s Viva la Vida tour. Although Kharhmar and the Casablancas already knew each other, but their bond deepened in 2015 when The Strokes were playing at an annual music festival in Barcelona called the Primavera Sound. They both also share a mutual love for soccer and music. Moreover, Kharhmar has also been featured in David Letterman's show and has also performed with stars like Norah Jones. 

Kharhmar gives the credit for his success to his father who is also a very good singer and guitarist. He taught Kharhmar how to play guitar when he was growing up in Shillong. In New York, Kharhmar usually plays Rock and Roll tunes, but in his hometown, he is popularly known for playing the traditional music of his Khasi culture. He also plays music in various restaurants in Shillong, including Rynsang, whose local Khasi food gives the tourists a taste of Shillong’s cultural essence.