Sebastian "Kebu" Teir (born 1977 in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) is a Finnish

keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

, arranger and composer.

Career

Teir's musical career began in 1999, playing keyboards in the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band ''Prime Mover'', with whom he released three albums and a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

. He has also played keyboards in the progressive metal band ''Kouzin Bedlam''. In 2008 he joined the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band Vinyl Jam on their single ''Test of Wind'' (2008) where he played organ,

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

, and Hohner

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

. The band recorded their vinyls with the principle that everything in the

signal chain Signal chain, or signal-processing chain is a term used in signal processing and mixed-signal system design to describe a series of signal-conditioning electronic components that receive input (data acquired from sampling either real-time phenomen ...

had to be

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

. This inspired Teir to make his debut album in a similar way, with the addition of using analog synthesizers as the only instruments. Teir recorded his debut solo album under the pseudonym Kebu in 2012, ''Jupiter and Back'' (2012), which is inspired by the

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

of world-renowned composers who create music on analog synthesizers, e.g. Jean-Michel Jarre,

Jan Hammer Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as his film scores fo ...

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

and

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...

. The album debuted on the Finnish Albums Chart where it peaked at number 28. To ''Jupiter and Back'' was nominated for the best album of the year at the prestigious Schallwelle Music Awards, where Kebu was also nominated as the best artist for the first time. Kebu won the award as best international artist 2017 and 2021. He gave concerts in 2015 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

(Italo Disco Party with the Swedish singer

Johan Becker Star Pilots is a Swedish pop group with Johan Becker, a contestant on Swedish television show ''Fame Factory'' and former member of the Swedish duo The Wallstones as lead singer. The group's debut single, "In the Heat of the Night", was released i ...

), in 2013 he performed during the Assembly demoparty, in 2016 in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

(he performed during

The Gathering (LAN party) The Gathering (abbreviated as "TG" for short) is the second largest computer party in the world (second to DreamHack). It is held annually in Vikingskipet Olympic Arena in Hamar, Norway, and lasts for five consecutive days (starting on the Wedne ...

in the Vikingskipet hall). While working on his second album, ''Perplexagon'' (2016), he was inspired by the music of the 70s and 80s and contemporary

electro music Electro (or electro- funk)Rap meets ...

. The album debuted on the Finnish Albums Chart where it peaked at number 6 . In 2017, during the ''Perplexagon Tour 2017'', he played fifty concerts throughout Europe. One of the concerts in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in December 2017 was recorded and released on a DVD album. In 2017, Teir was invited by the TED organization where he gave a lecture: ''Analog music in a digital world''. In 2018, he performed with a choir at a concert at Kristinehallen in Kristinestad, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the founding of Finland . In 2018, the EP ''Kring havet - Meren ympärillä'' (6 tracks) with material from the concert was released. Kebu is also popular on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, 272,000 users subscribe to his channel, received 100 million views worldwide (from 2010 to August 2023). His most popular video is his cover of

's song ''Crockett's Theme'' (2012), which has received over 29 million views (August 2023). Kebu has also composed the title track (intro) and background music for the science radio program ''Kvanthopp'', a program broadcast weekly on Finnish national radio

Yle Vega Yle Vega (prior to 1 September 2016 – Yle Radio Vega) is a Finnish radio channel broadcasting in the Swedish language. It is operated by Finland's national public service broadcaster Yle (known in Swedish as Rundradion), which has its headquart ...

. In 2020, Teir participated in the recording of the new album of the Finnish

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band Amberian Dawn, where he provided additional keyboards. Kebu released third studio album, ''Urban Dreams'' in 2021.

Discography

Albums

* 2012: ''To Jupiter and Back'' * 2016: ''Perplexagon'' * 2019: ''Live In Oslo'' (2CD+DVD) * 2021: ''Urban Dreams'' * 2021: ''Live Online'' * 2023: ''Trance Remixes'' * 2023: "Synthesizer Legends - Volume 1"

Singles

* 2014: "Deep Blue" ( Maxi single) * 2018: ''Kring havet – Meren ympärillä'' ( EP) * 2021: "Hope" * 2021: "Hope" (Talla 2XLC Remix) * 2021: "Fleeting Lights" * 2021: "Late for the Meeting in the Maze" * 2022: "Super Troopers" * 2022: "To Jupiter and Back" (Talla 2XLC Remix) * 2022: "Clear Skies" * 2023: "Michael's Anthem" ( Daniel Kandi Remix) * 2023: "Perplexagon Part 3" (Daniel Kandi Remix)

Concerts

* 2017: ''Perplexagon Tour'' * 2019: ''Film Music Prague'' * 2021: ''Kebu - Live Online''

References

External links

Official Kebu website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teir, Sebastian 1977 births Music YouTubers Electronic instrument players Finnish keyboardists Finnish heavy metal keyboardists Living people