Ginger Muse is a flagship project of Music Lab in 2020. In line with our spirit to innovate, Ginger Muse connects local musicians from a spectrum of disciplines, records our voices in studio and develops an unprecedented local music label. 

Since 2016, Music Lab Festival has been dedicated to promoting and nurturing local music talents. We curate innovative and experimental music programmes, bringing new possibilities to and widening imagination of the public towards music. 

Ginger Muse substantiates the vision of Music Lab, from producing and releasing music albums to incubating local talents. Ginger Muse envisions to identify and develop our city's up and coming musicians and to showcase their programmes to international arenas. 

Why Ginger Muse

Since Music Lab’s inauguration in 2013, we have been producing signature programmes in different genres. Programmes Seasons of Life (2013) and Lost in Time (2018), partnering two promising local musicians KaJeng WONG and Cy Leo, have received positive responses by the public overwhelmingly.

Because of so, in 2018, our two lead musicians, have initiated to record two albums to further promote our music to a wider crowd local and abroad. The two recording projects enabled them and Music Lab to develop herself to produce, record, disseminate and promote. Music Lab has also developed her own team with designers, engineers, solicitors and producers who collectively produce top-quality music albums.

With our prior experiences and track record, Ginger Muse is an attempt to augment Music Lab’s capacity to systematically identify and incubate local promising musicians. Through process of professional recording, packaging, distribution and promotion, the Ginger Muse project will bring works of our musicians to international platforms.

Project details

Ginger Muse will bring three top-quality music albums in July 2020.

1. Angel & Demon 

Angel and Demon is the first original instrumental album of CY Leo. The compositions are influenced by varies musical genre including classical, jazz, and rock music. This album is also a by-product of the social instability of Hong Kong in 2019. It includes composition that reflect and conceal the emotion and perception of a musician towards the largest social unrest of Hong Kong in history.

2. Set Loose 

Titled Set Loose, Joyce Cheung’s debut album is a search for her own identity. Setting loose implies letting go of the restrictions and defying the rules one has created for oneself, whether they stem from society’s expectations or a need to survive in strong competition.

Liberated from these confines, Joyce freely explores and finds her place in the world of jazz. The remarkably reflective project consists of eight tracks, both arrangements and compositions written within the tumultuous year of 2019. In this trying time, Joyce channels her complex emotions into notes and rhythms that offer audience a glimpse of her soul.

3. SMASH: Originals

The Smash trio comprises of the most expressive saxophone tone, the most energetic harmonica performer, the most versatile pianist, and its engine of top musicians. The project explores what music is, attempts to re-define the meaning of music, and bridge the popular with the classics. Smashing the boundaries of classical, pop and jazz music, Smash creates an experience that is purely musical.

Smash works intimately with a cohort of local composers to find its original and authentic sound.  The compositions, enable Smash to continue with its fire, energy and passion, translating these elements into a fiery and most exciting experience for its supporters.

Project implementation

In 4 major phases, the funding solicited will produce three albums of music originals by our musicians and practitioners.

Phase 1 (Apr - May 2020): Recording in studios
Phase 2 (May - June): Mixing, mastering and album design
Phase 3 (July): Printing and distribution 
Phase 4 (August onwards): exporting and pitching

Your support, however, is far more than paying for an album. It is exactly the reason why we are here for crowdfunding, instead of sales. 

You are not only supporting the release of three albums, but also a long-term development to our ecology. These pilot albums will be critical for the development of Ginger Muse, that earnings of these albums will then be channelled to produce further albums for other local musicians in future. While Music Lab will continue to produce stage productions, Ginger Muse will be an anchoring initiative to transform our signature programmes into albums, and to promote our voices to other parts of the world. 

Promotion and publicity

Since 2013, Music Lab has staged more than 30 stage performances, engaging more than 50 musicians in conventional auditoriums and unconventional spaces. Being highly active in and dedicated to audience building, Music Lab has established a loyal audience base. In particularly, Music Lab has been widely supported by young audiences. Such an audience base, is a huge asset to Music Lab and also this crowdfunding campaign.

To solicit support from the public, our musicians will reach out through a number of online campaigns. Live sessions, dialogues and music sharing will be scheduled regularly to engage our targeted backers. Also, promotional trailers and videos will be produced and distributed to narrate the long-term vision of Ginger Muse, and features of the album. These campaigns, will focus on explaining the vision of Ginger Muse, and how could your support sustain a more balanced development of the local music ecology. 

Budget

Music director：HKD 50,000.00
Artists honorarium：HKD 80,000.00
Studio rental：HKD 20,000.00
Mixing and post-editing：HKD 80,000.00
Design and printing：HKD 80,000.00
Promotion：HKD 50,000.00
Administration and coordination：HKD 25,000.00
Other production costs：HKD 15,000.00

Participating artists 

Cy Leo（Harmonica）- https://www.musiclab.hk/cy-leo

Joyce CHEUNG（Keyboard）- https://www.musiclab.hk/joyce-cheung

Timothy SUN（Saxophone）- https://www.musiclab.hk/timothy-sun

KaJeng WONG（Keyboard）- https://www.musiclab.hk/kajeng-wong