Masa
Bassist and composer for the Taiwanese band Mayday, born in Kaohsiung City on April 25, 1977, who won the Best Composer Award at the 23rd Golden Melody Awards for "諾亞方舟."
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About the artist
Masa is the bassist for the Taiwanese band Mayday. Born 蔡昇晏 in Kaohsiung City on April 25, 1977, he attended 高雄市苓雅區中正國小 and 師大附中. At 師大附中, he and Stone served respectively as presidents of the guitar club in the first and second semesters of the same academic year, and he also chaired the student clubs association. He later attended the Department of Sociology at Fu Jen Catholic University. In addition to bass, Masa plays double bass, guitar, piano, and harmonica.
Masa's creative work in Mayday began around the time of "神的孩子都在跳舞." He recalled that the members began writing songs individually with this fifth album; in 2004, Masa released his first original song, "約翰藍儂," on the album. When writing "生存以上生活以下," Masa initially envisioned a light, cheerful melody, to which Ashin later added a theme about life's struggles. The chorus melody of "最重要的小事" came from a flash of inspiration before a media appearance; Masa first recorded it on his phone, then returned to complete it.
The selection process for "諾亞方舟" did not go smoothly. Masa recalled that the song received few votes at the album's song-selection meeting, and he himself was unsure at the time whether it should be included, eventually saying, "All right, maybe people just don't like it that much." On June 23, 2012, Masa won the Best Composer Award at the 23rd Golden Melody Awards for "諾亞方舟" from Mayday's album "第二人生."
Masa's production work has also extended to other singers. B'in Music's materials state that Masa and HUSH co-produced "衣櫃歌手" and invited 陳建騏 to arrange it; in 2017, Masa was also nominated for Best Single Producer at the 28th Golden Melody Awards for 家家's "還是想念."
Voice performance is one of Masa's pursuits outside music: in 2005, he voiced 孫悟空 in "紅孩兒:決戰火焰山"; in 2012, he narrated "她.一個人的旅行"; and in 2017, he voiced Batman in "樂高蝙蝠俠電影."
Masa's record and book collections also became part of his business ventures. At the end of November 2013, he invested in and opened OFFLINE 離線咖啡 at Huashan Creative Park in Taipei and served as the café's music director. The idea came from his record and book collections; Masa wanted to program music in the café, display collectible figurines, and occasionally invite bands to perform. The café later served as a filming location for the interstitial videos of "人生無限公司巡迴演唱會" and the film "五月天人生無限公司3D," and closed on January 10, 2019.
Curation and writing are among the cultural projects Masa later pursued. In 2022, on the 25th anniversary of 張雨生's death, the Taipei Music Center planned the special exhibition "想你到月球," with Masa serving as music director. On December 1 that year, Masa published his autobiographical music essay collection "昨天的孩子," his first published book.
Masa's bass playing was described in more specific terms through a cross-band collaboration. Speaking about the collaboration, 雲安 said, "Masa's playing is very different in style from the bassists we've worked with before—his personality, feel, and tone are all completely different—so we made a lot of detailed arrangements." During rehearsals for the limited collaboration "靠五人," Masa also proposed linking "有星空" and "披星戴月的想你," and the participants made repeated adjustments to connect the two songs. In the formal performance, Masa also sang "擁抱" with 雲安 and 犬青.
Overview
- Born
- April 25, 1977age 49
- Born in
- Taiwan
- Career start
- Debut as group member · July 7, 1999
- Active
- July 7, 1999 – present27 years
- Gender
- Male
- Aliases
- Matthew Tsai, 蔡昇晏
- Instruments
- Bass, Piano / Keyboard
Catalogued works & releases
No catalogued works yet.