Kengchakaj (Gheng/chAH /kad) is a Bangkok-born, New York-based award-winning improviser, pianist, and composer. Recipient of a Fulbright Award to pursue a Master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music (class of 2017). Kengchakaj’s work focuses on using improvisation-based music as a tool intended to create collective participation among people, and fabricated empathy towards another. His idiom is rooted in African American derived music infused with the aesthetics of Thai root. Kengchakaj currently researches on the topic of the contradiction in identity, culture, and music, he called “Lak Lan,” a Thai word that can be translated as juxtaposition, dichotomy, or paradox.
