Sait began his musical career with darbuka in Ankara, Turkey. He was inspired by great percussion virtuosos Mısırlı Ahmet and Levent Yıldırım from whom he had the chance to take classes and follow their brilliant techniques.
In 2003, Sait moved to Istanbul, Turkey where he combined his “club-darbuka” style with electronic dance music. He has internationally performed in concerts with many well-known musicians and artists such as Mercan Dede, DJ Can Hatipoğlu, Kenan Doğulu and Serdar Ortaç.
In 2008, Sait moved to the USA. He worked with the prominent musicians in jazz, tango and flamenco in Kansas City.
In 2009, Sait formed the Turkish jazz group Alaturka along with Beau Bledsoe, Rich Wheeler and Jeff Harshbarger. His composition took place in the group’s first album “Tamam Abi” as well as his performances. He performed with Alaturka in New York City, Chicago, Houston and other cities as a guest of the several festivals. He’s done also workshops on darbuka and Turkish rhythms at universities. In addition, he collaborated with Mike Del Ferro in 16th Istanbul International Jazz Festival.
In 2011, Sait moved to New York City, USA where he formed the “Sait Arat NYC Trio” along with oud virtuoso Mavrothi T. Kontanis and kanun master Umut Yasmut.
In 2012, Sait performed classical Turkish music concert with oud player Beau Bledsoe in Mexico City, Mexico where he lived for a while.
In 2013, Sait’s composition “Ecstatic” took place in “The Spirit of Istanbul” album.
In 2014, Sait formed the world music band Her Dem in collaboration with clarinet player Gökhan Demirdöğmez, kanun player Sezer Yılmaz and bass player Seda Kireççi.
In 2015, Sait contributed to Hakan Gencol’s ‘Çocuk’ ep album as a percussionist.
In 2016, Sait recorded his first single album ‘Kalamış’ in collaboration with clarinet player Gökhan Demirdöğmez, kanun player Mustafa Olgan and bass player Seda Kireççi.
In 2017, Sait’s first single album ‘Kalamış’ released by Bi’Oda Music in Istanbul, Turkey.
Between 2017 and 2018 he lived in South Korea and toured Korea and Japan.
Sait resides in Germany, performs, teaches and composes music.
