My five favourite international musicians

• Kebu – Sebastian ‘Kebu’ Teir from Finland is the most genuine and likeable synthesizer player. I’ve seen him play live many times around Europe. A friend to his many fans, his gigs are always joyful celebrations of music. Kebu’s compositions are at the forefront of modern analogue synthesizer music. He is widely considered to be a pioneering exemplar, an icon of the genre in our times.

• Borrtex – Daniel ‘Borrtex’ Bordovsky, a resident of Prague, where I was fortunate to meet him in 2019; we have remained good friends. Daniel is a polite and thoughtful composer, pianist and synthesist. His music is introspective, tender, emotional and truly beautiful.

• Marco Grenier – Marco is a collaborator of Jean-Michel Jarre, working with him on sound design and synthesizer programming. A French Canadian, Marco also performs his own music as support to Jean-Michel’s concerts. I met him at the concert in Budapest in 2016, a warm and friendly man. 

• Gattobus – Gianni ‘Gattobus’ Proietti is a synthesist from Siena in Italy. He works as a sound designer for the synthesizer manufacturer Roland. If you try any modern Roland synthesizer, you will be playing sounds that Gianni created. Many of his compositions are written to showcase the capabilities of the instruments. 

• Madis – Amadeusz ‘Madis’ Małkowski from Krakow in Poland is an electronic music composer, DJ and remixer. His performances are often in unusual settings such as the edge of a desert or on a riverboat in the Krakow sunset. 

References: Teir S (2021) Kebu Official Homepage https://www.kebu.fi/

Bordovsky D (2021) Borrtex – Minimalist Piano Composer https://borrtex.com/

Grenier M (2021) Marco Grenier https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-grenier-72b018a4/?originalSubdomain=ca

Sirma (2021) A Few Minutes with Gattobus: From Roland Fan to Family https://articles.roland.com/a-few-minutes-with-gattobus-from-roland-fan-to-family/

Matkowski A (2021) Madis Music https://madis-music.com/