Ebstar
Ebstar | |
|---|---|
 Ebstar in Busan, South Korea, 2024 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ebenezer Tarubinga |
| Born | November 29, 2001 Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |
| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 2021–present |
| Labels | The ESØTËRIC Ones |
| Associated acts | RATSBE, Trigger Mufasa, GillianBlxck, Roline |
| Website | ebstar |
Ebstar (born Ebenezer Tarubinga; 29 November 2001), known in Korean as 에벤, is a Zimbabwean music producer and artificial intelligence researcher based in Seoul, South Korea. His electronic dance music draws on piano house, dance-pop, amapiano, and deep house. Several of his singles have charted on Spotify's national daily charts in South Korea, Estonia, and Luxembourg,[1] and his catalogue has accumulated over five million streams across platforms.[2]
He graduated with a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence from Korea University in 2026, publishing peer-reviewed research in computer vision as first author at the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks.[3] He founded The ESØTËRIC Ones, an independent record label in Seoul, in 2023.[4]
Early life and education
Ebenezer Tarubinga was born on 29 November 2001 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.[2] He received a Global Korea Scholarship and relocated to South Korea in 2022, the only recipient from Zimbabwe that year. In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, he recalled that "the interviewers seemed to highly value my major and my passion."[2]
He enrolled in the Master of Science programme in Artificial Intelligence at Korea University, graduating in 2026. His research, conducted under IEEE Fellow Professor Seong-Whan Lee at the Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning Laboratory, focused on computer vision and large language models.[2][5][6]
Music career
2021–2022: Early releases and Life Is Beautiful
Ebstar began producing music in 2021, citing Avicii and David Guetta as early influences.[2] He collaborated with producers internationally through online platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing remixes on SkioMusic of tracks by Guster, Busta Rhymes, Vic Mensa, and Sia. SkioMusic noted that within a year of his debut he was ranked 290th on its World Producer Chart.[4]
His debut studio album, Life Is Beautiful, was released in 2022 and comprised ten tracks spanning deep house, progressive house, and future bass.[7]
2023: With Love, Ebstar and label founding
In 2023, Ebstar released the EP With Love, Ebstar :), which included the single "After The Storm, You'll See The Sun".[7] He founded The ESØTËRIC Ones, an independent record label based in Seoul, the same year; Yonhap News reported that the label had ten artists at the time of its profile.[2][4]
2024–present: Chart entries and continued releases
In 2024, Ebstar released ECHOES OF LOVE I (Deluxe Version) and Maknaebe (Deluxe Version), the latter a 23-track collaborative album with RATSBE.[7][4]
Several singles charted on Spotify's national daily charts during this period: "sexual pt. I (ecstasy)" peaked at number 9 in Estonia, "what does it mean to be happy?" reached number 37 in Luxembourg, "The Breakup Anthem" reached number 45 in South Korea, and "But....I DONT TRUST YOU" peaked at number 41 in Luxembourg.[1]
In his Yonhap profile, Ebstar said he was surprised his work had gained recognition in Korea without active domestic promotion. He described the ethos of his music: "Within my upbeat EDM, there are messages of love and hope — it comes from a wish for everyone to overcome their own adversities."[2]
Musical style
Ebstar's production is rooted in house music, particularly piano house, incorporating elements of amapiano and other African dance genres. In the Yonhap interview, he argued that African music should not be reduced to the umbrella term "Afrobeats", highlighting the breadth of genres popular across the continent, among them amapiano, Afropop, and Congolese rumba.[2]
Academic research
Ebstar's research at Korea University focused on semantic segmentation and semi-supervised learning. His paper "CW-BASS: Confidence-Weighted Boundary-Aware Learning for Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation", co-authored with Jenifer Kalafatovich Espinoza and Seong-Whan Lee, was accepted at the IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN 2025).[3]
Public profile
Yonhap News reported that Ebstar has over 160,000 Instagram followers and has served as a foreign promotional ambassador, travelling across South Korea to promote cities and cultural sites.[2] He has held several government-affiliated positions, including Global SeoulMate with the Seoul Tourism Organisation (2023–2025), Korea Allimi with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2023), and Outlookie Cultural Influencer with KOFICE and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (2023).[2]
In 2025, he was appointed a GINCON Committee Member, a programme affiliated with the National Assembly of South Korea. Money Today reported that GINCON had recognised 158 influencer teams from 28 countries since 2020.[8]
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Life Is Beautiful | 10 tracks |
| 2024 | ECHOES OF LOVE I (Deluxe Version) | 40 tracks |
| 2024 | Maknaebe (Deluxe Version) | 23 tracks; with RATSBE |
EPs
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2023 | With Love, Ebstar :) |
Charted singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | "When I Think of You (Summer)" | LU: #69[1] |
| 2024 | "sexual pt. I (ecstasy)" | EE: #9[1] |
| 2024 | "what does it mean to be happy?" | LU: #37[1] |
| 2024 | "The Breakup Anthem" | KR: #45[1] |
| 2024 | "But....I DONT TRUST YOU" | LU: #41[1] |
| 2024 | "COMING BACK FOR MORE" | KR: #100[1] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Ebstar – Spotify Chart History". Kworb. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 Im Kyung-bin (2025-10-02). "[우리품의 아프리카인] ⑸"한국서 AI·음악 둘 다 잡을래요"" [[Africans in Our Embrace] Part 5: "I want to succeed in both AI and music in Korea"] (in 한국어). Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tarubinga, Ebenezer; Kalafatovich Espinoza, Jenifer; Lee, Seong-Whan (2025). "CW-BASS: Confidence-Weighted Boundary-Aware Learning for Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation". Proceedings of the IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN). arXiv:2502.15152.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Ebstar". Beatport. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
- ↑ "Pattern Recognition & Machine Learning Lab". Korea University. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
- ↑ "Ebenezer Tarubinga – Google Scholar". Google Scholar. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Ebstar on Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
- ↑ "진콘, '1월 이달의 인플루언서' 시상식 개최" [GINCON holds January 'Influencer of the Month' awards ceremony] (in 한국어). Money Today. 2025-01-10. Retrieved 2026-03-03.
External links
Category:2001 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Bulawayo
Category:Zimbabwean musicians
Category:Electronic dance music DJs
Category:Deep house musicians
Category:Amapiano musicians
Category:Artificial intelligence researchers
Category:Korea University alumni
