Adil Johan is a Penang-born and raised musician and ethnomusicologist.  He was awarded his PhD from King’s College London, writing a thesis on Malay film music from the 1950s to 1960s in relation to nation-making in the Malay Peninsula. His research has been published as a book chapter on Malay youth music in 1960s Singapore and he is currently writing a book based on his PhD Research.

He is also a professional saxophonist and music educator, and has been performing and recording music in Kuala Lumpur since 2006. Aside from his session work he leads his own jazz band, the Adil Johan Quartet (AJQ), in which he sings, plays the saxophone, re-interprets popular tunes and composes original songs. Additionally whilst frequenting live venues in Malaysia such as Alexis Bistro and No Black Tie, AJQ performed at the Mosaic Festival, Singapore in 2010 and released the album, Re-Arrange, in the same year.

Currently, Adil performs with Dasha Logan, Azmyl Yunor & Orkes Padu, and a new Malaysian-rock-fusion band called Nadir. As a lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, Sunway University, he teaches a course on World Cinema, and in 2016, he will be teaching courses on World Music, Malaysian Music and Music Research for a new Bachelor’s degree programme in Contemporary Music.

Fun fact: You can annoy him by calling him as doctor.

For the record, Adil Johan scored 25!

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