Kengchakaj: The Unforgetting

• Kengchakaj - piano, synth, electronics, homemade DIY gongs
• Nitcha Tothong - visual
• MAYSUN - drums, sounds
• Melissa Almaguer - taps
• Kobi Abcede - drums

“Unforgetting” is a concept introduced by Thongchai Winichakul, a survivor of the October 6, 1976, massacre, to describe the liminal space between remembering and forgetting—a state of suspended memory that characterizes the enduring silence surrounding this tragic event. This silence is not mere forgetfulness; rather, it represents the profound inability to either fully remember or completely forget, to articulate traumatic memories in ways that are comprehensible and meaningful, or to move beyond the past entirely.

This set of music confronts the systematic silencing of activists and radical thinkers across Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Thailand, while drawing urgent parallels to the resurgence of fascism worldwide. At its heart lies the October 6, 1976, massacre at Thammasat University, where military forces, police, and right-wing paramilitary brutally killed student protesters who had gathered to oppose the return to Thailand of a former dictator.

Through this music, he hopes to unfold this condition of “unforgetting"—using sound to hold space for difficult truths as we move together toward healing and justice.

Kengchakaj (Thai: เก่งฉกาจ) is a Thai diaspora, Bangkok-born, Lenapehoking-based artist, pianist, improviser, and synthesist. His practice engages with organizing, synthesizing, and improvising sounds drawn from personal experiences influenced by political complexities, ancestral soundscapes, and modes of collaboration and expression rooted in Southeast Asian traditions and lineages. He is a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, Lincoln Center Collider Fellow and Y10&11 NEW INC member.