Kanako Kato

Kanako Kato

Kanako Kato, a chromatic accordion player was born in Osaka, Japan. She started playing accordion when she was 4 years old and became a winner of Japan Junior Accordion Contest 2 times. At the age of 17, she won the overall title on Japan Accordion Contest.She has been attracting public attention since she was a child. After graduating high school, she learned accordion in French for 4 years and won thechampionship of French Accordion Contest 3 times. After returning Japan, Kanako actively performs at concert and produces music for musicals and theaters. Her original composed tunes have many fans and are asked for using by commercial director, photographer, directors and producers. She is a poster artist of V-accordion FR-1 of Roland.The promotional movie filmed in Italy is introduced widely. She's good at playing French style, but the meeting with Nordic music attracted Kanako. She has collaborated with many Nordic artists such as SWÅP (Sweden/England),Johanna Juhola(Finland), Pauliina Lerche(Finland), Petter Berndalen(Sweden),Storm Weather Shanty Choir(Norway). On her second album, she recorded "Sommarvals" with Ale Möller, which is one of the mostfamous tunes of Ale himself. These years she performs often with Göran Månsson, Swedish flute player and gives many concerts with him. She is a leader of a trio "kolmikko", playing Finnish tango.