Kengo Saito
After having learned Western classical music on the violin and the guitar, he discovered and oriented himself towards world music, in particular the music of North India. He learned the tabla and the sitar in India and France, then met his master sitarist Pandit Kushal Dasde Calcutta. He then devoted himself to the art of the sitar and acquired remarkable virtuosity and a high quality of interpretation of the Raags. Today Kengo is one of the brilliant disciples of Kushal Das. Based in Paris, he gives sitar lessons and performs all over the world.
Also recognized as an exceptional Rubâb player, Kengo subtly interprets the Afghan repertoire transmitted by Daud Khan Sadozai, an emeritus disciple of the late Ustad Mohammad Omar, the king of Afghan rubâb. His creativity and his vast musical knowledge allow him multiple collaborations and to play styles that go from Japan to Greece.
As a composer, he has written many pieces with influences from India, Iraqn, from Afghanistan, Turkey and Japan. He successfully led a group of musicians from different countries for a concert at UNESCO in 2010, and for a concert in support of the victims of the March 11 tsunami in Japan in 2011. While keeping the value of traditional music, he engages as an artist in the creativity of today's cosmopolitan music.
He also reconnects with his Japanese roots by playing traditional Japanese melodies arranged for the rubâb. His first solo album, "JAPANISTAN" was cited by the British magazine Songlines as "an example of fusion properly done, with control, nuance and good taste."
As a soloist or with different formations, he has performed on stage in France at the Musée du Quai Branly (Paris), at the Arsenal in Metz, at the Théâtre National Molière (Sète), at the Satellite Café (Paris), in the auditorium of the Musée Guimet (Paris), the Théâtre d'Orléans (Orléans), the Café de la Danse (Paris), the Maison des Arts de Créteil, UNESCO (Paris), the Théâtre Poirel (Nancy) , at the Rêve d'aborigène Festival (Airvaut), at the Azimut Festival (la Pesse), at the Palace of the Kings of Majorca Festival (Perpignan), at the Oh Festival (Val de Marne), at the Mnode Dust Festival (Switzerland ) etc and overseas in Hangzhou Opera with Hangzhou Philharmonic (China), with Shenzen Symphony Orchestra (China), Indian Embassy Beijing, Visual Arts Center (Hong Kong), Peninsula Hotel (Hong Kong), Palmeraie de Marrakech (Morocco), Eve's Barn (Lancaster, USA), India Habitat Center (Delhi, India), The Attic (Delhi, India), ITC Sangeet Research Accademy Kolkata, Weavers Studio Center for the Arts, Palladian Lounge (Kolkata, India) etc.