Martin Musaubach

Musa has performed all around the world as pianist, keyboardist and band leader for some of the biggest names in the Mandarin and Cantonese pop music scene – such as Crowd Lu, Gary Chaw, Joanna Wang, MATZKA, Olivia Ong, Lara Liang, Jia Jia, ABAO, Japanese guitar duo Depapepe, Deserts Chang, Alien Huang, Alex To and many others.

Musa’s latest live session was working as the keyboardist for the Mandarin pop diva A-Lin, in Sonar and I’m A-Lin World Tour during 2016, 2017 and 2018.

For the release of his first album 3690 in October 2013, the Austrian piano manufacturer Bösendorfer endorsed Musa, providing him a special version of piano model 214 on the recording sessions in Taiwan.

After the release, Musa toured extensively in South America, East Asia (Japan, China, Taiwan) and performed his own compositions as a member of the house band at the official Légère Jazz Jam of the Winter NAMM Show in Los Angeles in 2015, 2016 and 2017, alongside Grammy nominated artist Gerald Albright (Quincy Jones, Anita Baker, Phil Collins), George Garzone (New York University/Berklee College of Music woodwinds faculty), Jeff Kashiwa (The Rippingtons), showcasing the endorsed keyboards of his endorser, the Italian maker Studiologic.

Musa owns a music production company in Taiwan, 3690 Studios Ltd. In May 2016, he released his multi-award winning second album All Kinds of Good, with a tour visiting more than 10 cities in Japan. Musa closed the album releasing tour as the main performer at the Ikebukuro Jazz Festival 2016, playing for more than a thousand audiences in the heart of Tokyo. Returned to Taiwan, he went on with the album releasing tour, performed at the Taipei Jazz Festival and Taichung Jazz Festival in the same year. Musa was also invited to perform at the same festivals again in 2017 and 2018.

In 2017, All Kinds of Good received multiple nominations and awards in the two most important music awards ceremonies of the Chinese speaking areas in Asia (mostly where Mandarin pop music prevails or in Chinese communities worldwide), including six nominations plus winning two awards overall. He had three nominations at the 28th Golden Melody Award (GMA, commonly known as the Chinese Grammy) as Best Instrumental Album, Best Instrumental Album Producer and Best Instrumental Composer. At the 8th Golden Indie Melody Award (GIMA; GMA for independent artists), All Kinds of Good was nominated with Best Album, plus two songs for the Best Jazz Single (Sky+Diving, All Kinds of Good). Musa was finally awarded with two prizes for Best Musician of the Year and Best Jazz Album in GIMA 2017, making him the first foreign solo artist to be nominated and won in any of these categories in the ceremony.

In 2018, the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan honored him by inviting him to be one of the judges in IGMA, the award ceremony that awarded him in the previous year. Being a member of the jury yet didn’t vote, he once again won the Best Jazz Single of the Year for his guest appearance on the track Dreamer’s Blues by the Afro-Cuban Jazz band Soy La Ley.

Currently Musa is on the pre-production stage of his third solo album ON -the 大里 Sessions-, in which he is experimenting with all the sounds that are influencing his playing, Afro-South American Music, Electronic Music, Chinese Instruments and Native Taiwanese tribal chants.

As the producer, Musa is working on a project that is awarded a government grant from the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan for music and the arts called Indigo Children. The project displays the whole spectrum of music, from Afro-North American music with the structural arrangements, and lyrical developments in Mandarin pop music. The album features Pin, a well known underground singer/songwriter that has toured and perform for years as lead backing vocals for the Mandarin pop diva A-Mei.

2017 was a turning point in Musa’s career. After 9 years of living and working in Asia, mostly in Chinese speaking countries, he decided it was time to give something back to the society that had provided the freedom and stability needed for him to develop as an artist. That’s how his 20th Century Popular Music Course was born.[1]

Musa teaches for free to aspiring professional musicians not only in music theory and improvisation, but also introduces a bit of the history and anthropological roots behind all the music styles that have become famous worldwide, from Tango to R&B, and everything in between.

As a mostly self-taught musician who learned the value of education by having to struggle hard to get it, Musa understands that not always those who have a passion for art (music) have the means to pursue it, and if that is not provided, is not only the individuals’ talent is wasted but the whole society which losses.

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Note: Information on this page is provided by Mr Musaubach in person.