About
Kengchakaj (Gheng/chAH /kad)
Kengchakaj is a Bangkok-born, New York-based award-winning pianist, improviser, synthesist, and one-half of elekhlekha อีเหละเขละขละ, an artist collective with interdisciplinary media artist, Nitcha Tothong. Kengchakaj practice engages with organizing and improvising sounds that draw inspiration from ancestral soundscapes and modes of collaboration and expression rooted in Southeast Asian tradition and lineage. His medium of expression spans acoustic piano, retune analog synthesizer, electronics, multichannel spatial audio, and live coding (real-time programming to create sound or image) speculative imaginary electronics ensemble utilizing technology to produce a multimedia multisensory live performance.
Kengchakaj is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music(MM), a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, and a Gold Award Lumen Prize winner. Kengchakaj is a Collider Fellow at Lincoln Center and a Y11 NEW INC member. Kengchakaj was a Y10 NEW INC member(2023-2024), and Eyebeam Democracy Machine Fellow(2024). Moreover, Kengchakaj was an artist in residence at CultureHub(2023-2024), Institute for Electronic Arts(2023), Babycastles(2021), and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity(2018), and participated in Nusasonic’s Common Tonalities project(2022). His projects have received development funds and support from the Lincoln Center, Queens Council on the Arts, City Artist Corps, Rhizome micro-grant, Processing Foundation, and a Creatives Rebuild New York guaranteed income for artist grant recipients. Besides the Lumen Prize, Kengchakaj has won numerous awards, including Best Soloist from Thailand International Jazz Conference(2013), First Prize awards in the Ensemble(2013) and Individual Performance(2011) from Thailand Jazz Competition, Honorable Mentions NYC Jazz Records Best of 2019 New Releases.
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