Mitchell’s Plain born and bred, self-taught musician, Bjorn “B Major” Martin, 24, from Tafelsig, is a big bloke with delicate fingers, gently caressing the ivories on his keyboard in his home studio, ahead of the release of his latest offering entitled Matters of the Heart.
The self-produced album is due to be released tomorrow, Thursday February 29.
If jazzy vibes and Afro soul is your thing, then Matters of the Heart hits the right note, no matter the mood you’re in.
“Whether you like jazz music or deep house music, you might like this project I put together,” said Martin, also known as Biggie among close friends.
Industry insiders and fans that have been keeping track of his development can bear testimony to his artistry.
Nominated for Producer of the Year in 2021, at 021 Music Awards, and the following year for Song of the Year at the Cape town Artist Awards for his electronic down-tempo song called Lemonade, a song from his four track EP named Lemonade, his musical talent has not gone unnoticed.
“I unfortunately didn’t win the music award, but I’m pushing for higher boundaries now,” said Martin, with a wry smile. Over the years he’s connected with various artists, most notably Mitchell’s Plain’s Deen Louw, known as D’Low, who has a string of hits and is the founder of Rhyme Unit Feed The Needy feeding scheme and the Deen Louw Foundation. Martin considers Louw a mentor and an inspiration.
“The people who feature on the album are mostly people I’ve known for years now, especially Deen Louw. We have finally decided to collaborate and I created the official remix to Fooled by Love featured on my album,” he said.
“There is one producer on the album I connected with through Instagram last year, a female music producer from Los Angeles, namely Aldura. We collaborated on track 10 on the album, which is the only instrumental on the project,” he said.
“I’ve noticed more younger people are starting to enjoy the sound of jazz music these days, put together with Deep House and it truly speaks to a variety of ages, whether mature audiences or youngsters, it caters to everyone who loves good music. I’m sure they would find something out of the project they could chill or vibe to,” he said.
Introduced to music by his late father, Michael Martin, a professional jazz pianist with a degree in jazz music, Martin says he grew up listening to all kinds of music and started experimenting with sounds using digital software from an early age.
“I started out on Fruity Loops Studio around 11 years old. My cousin had the FL Studio 3 disc on his computer at the time and seeing it and listening to the demo projects it could do, immediately caught my attention,” he said.
“I always knew once I got my hands on my very own computer that’s the only thing I want on it. My sister was older than me so my father bought her a laptop for school first before I got one but she is the one who let me use the laptop and allowed me to crowd up her computer’s hard drive with all my music programs and projects,” he fondly recalls.
The rest, as they say, is history, with the then younger Biggie continuing to make beats on his sister’s laptop until his father gave him a keyboard he no longer had any use for.
“I had no idea how to even make anything on it and all he would tell me is keep practising your scales. He never gave me any other advice. I’ve been practising scales ever since and trying to play exactly what I hear in my mind. I have been trying to master the skill ever since then and will forever be learning and willing to learn more from other musicians. My training is not formal but I can vibe to anything,” he said.
“The first instrument I played is the piano, which is probably my favourite. I’m a music composer and producer. I’ve never really performed my own material live but have gigged and deejayed at many events and local clubs, I’m also an amateur percussionist and have picked up a few tricks on the saxophone and electric guitar over the years,” he said.
“I compose, produce and arrange all my songs from a blank page inside my software with my laptop and keyboard.
“Here and there I would use a paid professional saxophonist’s horn loops to fill some gaps where I feel it is needed. I do not sample any melodies, everything I create is original and I always try to keep it simple because less is more, I would consider myself an original artist and producer,” he said.
“A piece of advice I can give to other up and coming musicians, especially composers and producers who take this seriously and truly love doing music, don’t let anybody tell you that you’re not good enough.”
Matters of the Heart is available on all digital music platforms. Follow @Bmajor99 across all social media platforms.
