Fans Mourn Death of DJ Solomon Kahn

The popular Bay Area disk jockey died after his taxi was crashed into on a Bangkok freeway.

Friends, family and fans are mourning the loss of a popular Bay Area disc jockey who was killed in a car crash Tuesday while on tour in Bangkok.

Solomon Kahn, 34, was riding in a taxicab with his fiance, a Santa Cruz woman, when the cab stalled on a Bangkok freeway and a car struck the taxi, according to Ammon Haggerty, Kahn's older brother.

He died a short time later, and his fiance was seriously injured.

Also known as DJ Solomon, Kahn was renowned in the Bay Area and international music scenes for his hip-hop style turntable skills and his technical ability, Haggerty said.

Over the past six years, the San Francisco resident and Marin County native was also the Golden State Warriors' in-house DJ and one of three resident DJs for the San Francisco Giants.

He regularly spun records at several San Francisco nightclubs and performed last month at the San Francisco Ballet's opening night gala.

In recent years, he performed with a range of top hip-hop artists, including the Black Eyed Peas, De La Soul, Digital Underground and Groove Collective, according to Khan's MySpace page.

Even with his success, Khan "didn't have an ego," his brother said. "He was always really enthusiastic about all his gigs, even his small ones. He loved what he did."

In addition to mastering the bass guitar in a jazz band as a teen, Kahn was also influenced by his parents' reativity, Haggerty said.

Their mother, Tammam Kahn, is an author and poet, and Kahn's father, Shabda Kahn, is a prominent classical Indian musician and well-known Sufi spiritual leader.

His brother said that while their musical styles differed, the younger Kahn also brought a sense of spirituality to his performances.

"It was clearly an intent that he had to bring a kind of deeper experience and try to bring joy and positivity to the people he played for," Haggerty said. "He was really good at reaching a lot of people and he had a really universal appeal, both as a person and through his music."

The family is planning a public memorial pending the return of Kahn's fiance, who is being treated in a hospital in Thailand for multiple bone fractures and will likely undergo surgery, he said.

The couple had planned to marry in September.

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