Kengo Saito is a rare musician based in France who specializes in two distinct instruments: The sitar of North India and the Afghan rubâb.
He began studying the sitar with Narendra Bataju and Michel Guay briefly in Paris before meeting Pandit Kushal Das, from whom he has been learning since 2003.
In his high school days in Pennsylvania, USA, he learned the violin and played rock music on the guitar with friends. He went to study the fine arts in France, but after his first trip to India, the music finally took over his passion, and the colors of his paintings became the notes while sculpting the structures of melodies. 
He started the Afghan rubâb as self-taught, then went to study with Ustad Daud Khan Sadozai, who is one of the disciples of the legend of the rubâb, Ustad Mohamad Omar. 

His music appeals not only to the connoisseurs of these traditions but also to non-initiated audiences.

Either solo or with various ensembles, he has been performing widely in France and overseas, and multiplying his collaborations between World Music, Jazz, Western Classical, Electro-pop, and different dance genres. He has written a number of original compositions with influences from different musical traditions like India, Iran, Afghanistan, and Japan. In his original project Japanistan, Kengo interprets Japanese folk melodies to reconnect with his roots.