Music Through Unconventional Means: Beatboxing meets the art of Spoken Word, October 31 2010
Music Through Unconventional Means: Beatboxing meets the art of Spoken Word
SHLOMO, BELLATRIX, CHARLIE DARK, POLAR BEAR AND DIZRAELI & THE SMALL GODS
October 31 2010, 7.30pm,
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
MORE INFO AND TICKETS.
To celebrate my entering my 4th year (i know!) as Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre, we’ve organised a special concert as part of my ongoing collaborative series Music Through Unconventional Means. Vocal mastery will meet verbal dexterity as myself and female beatbox world champion BELLATRIX will cross our badmouth beatboxing with the likes of the incredible wordsmiths CHARLIE DARK, POLAR BEAR and DIZRAELI with his full band THE SMALL GODS.
who would you like to see collaborate?
I’m planning to bring back my collaborative concert series Music Through Unconventional Means – who would you like to see collaborate?
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Live tracks on Soundcloud
I uploaded a few live tracks taken from my Southbank concert series, some gems in there dating back to 2007! Enjoy
Shlomo’s Glasto diary 09 – Part 4 – JARVIS COCKER
Final part of Shlomo’s Glastonbury diary featuring Jarvis Cocker singing Fat Children with Shlomo and the Vocal Orchestra.
Shlomo’s Glasto diary 09 – Part 4 – MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE vs BELLATRIX beatbox battle
Part four of Shlomo’s Glastonbury diary featuring BBC Radio 4′s MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE challenging BELLATRIX (World Female Beatbox Champion 2009) to a battle of the beats. Ouch.
Part five is out next week!
Watch it HERE.
Shlomo’s Glasto Diary ’09 – part 3 – IMOGEN HEAP becomes honorary VOCAL ORCHESTRA member
Part three of Shlomo’s Glastonbury diary featuring an improvised collaboration between IMOGEN HEAP and SHLOMO AND THE VOCAL ORCHESTRA!
Part four is out next week!
Video by http://www.asdescribed.net/
Shlomo’s Glasto Diary ’09 – part 2 – DJ YODA vs VOCAL ORCHESTRA
Part two of Shlomo’s Glastonbury diary featuring a live battle between DJ YODA and SHLOMO AND THE VOCAL ORCHESTRA!
Part three is out next week!
Video by http://www.asdescribed.net/
Shlomo’s Glasto Diary ’09 – part 1 – the Vocal Orchestra
Part one of Shlomo’s Glastonbury diary featuring his beatbox choir THE VOCAL ORCHESTRA, plus JARVIS COCKER, IMOGEN HEAP, DJ YODA and MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE.
Part two is out next week!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNjL6sXwibE
Video by http://www.asdescribed.net/
New commission: Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra
I’m so excited to announce that Southbank Centre have commissioned Anna Meredith and myself to write a new classical work entitled Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra.
Anna Meredith (who you might have seen recently on TV teaching Goldie how to write orchestral music) is one of the UK’s hottest up and coming composers – she has written two BBC Proms and last year was commissioned for the Last Night of the Proms.
Our new piece will be performed on February 19th and 20th 2010 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with a specially created 20-piece orchestra, plus the Vocal Orchestra (my 8-piece beatbox choir) embedded within the ensemble.
This will be a challenging modern classical work recognising the human voicebox as a musical instrument in its own right, and also a chance to create the first full notation for beatboxers.
I’ll be blogging and tweeting throughout the whole process, and all the latest info, photo, video, blog posts and links to buy tickets can be found on the Concerto’s project page.
dreamland – live film soundtrack by shlomo, amiina and valgeir sigurdsson
This song is a live soundtrack to footage from the film Dreamland which documents the destruction of beautiful landscapes in Iceland to make way for Europe’s largest aluminium smelter.
All the landscapes you see in the film have now been destroyed.
Live at the QEH, London, May 2009. Performers: Shlomo, Valgeir Sigurdsson, Amiina, Sigga Sunna. Video by Gemma Riggs @ Rarerabbit.
You can also watch the trailer for the Dreamland film here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvH8tl4y0KE
photos of shlomo vs amiina vs valgeir
Photos by RJ Fernandez.
Shlomo gets deep
Valgeir Sigurdsson on the Steinway grand
collaboratoin is in the air
Shlomo vs amiina
Romeo from the Magic Number joins in
amiina make mesmorising music
hildur from amiina plays the saw
Applause!
the finale featuring Romeo Stoddard
take a bow
sublime icelandic music
Hey all
not checked into the blog since the stunning collaboration with the Icelandics. they are all such a pleasure to work with. we had a really intensive three days and i was distraught when it was all over.
the music was beautiful, hypnotic, peaceful mesmerising and spellbinding…
for me it was a real pleasure to be holding back, and beatbox so quietly.. it means you can hear all the delicate intricacies of the music, instead of my usual constant battle to impress and amaze the audience.
This is Romeo from the Magic Numbers joining us onstage to sing ‘The Night Before’ by Lee Hazlewood (who incidentally recorded his last song with Amiina just before he died).
I let rip possibly a little more than i should have done during my solo set in the first half. I ended my set with a massive rave tune which was loud. amiina then came on and did the most spacious, calm and quite moving song! i apologised to them in the interval for hyping it so much. they girls said it was fine.. like force feeding the crowd a pile of speed followed by valium….. LOLZ
anyway vids and pics to follow, big love to all it was sublime
unconventional means meets urban vani: pics and video
Here are some pics, and a video of the buildup to the concert we held at Southbank Centre, exploring the relationship between Indian vocal rhythms and beatboxing. Photos are by RJ Fernandez and the video is by Gemma Riggs.
Amazing artwork by Illustrator/spy Ellie Meredith
crossed cultures collaborate!
The kathak girls get into the beatboxing
Bellatrix and me with the Urban Vani kathak choir
Isha, 7, is one of my youngest students! She's a wicked beatboxer and stole the show
Gauri Sharma Tripathi with her amazing kathak dancers, they came over from India for the weekend
Gauri made me wear a traditional Indian costume!
Susheela Raman with her band. She has a spellbinding voice
Me and Susheela
Grand finale, take a bow!! what a show
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Combining Indian Kathak vocal rhythms with beatboxing
A few days ago I had my first experimental session with Gauri Sharma Tripathi in preparation for our collaborative concert with Susheela Raman which takes place in a few weeks. It’s the first Unconventional Means show in a while and I’m really excited about this one – it is different, and combines disciplines which are remarkably similar even though they were born in opposite corners of the globe.
Gauri is an exponent of Kathak – a form of classical dance from North India. I first witnessed a Kathak performance when I watched the graduation ceremony of two of Gauri’s students, presenting a piece which had taken them a year to create. The dance focuses on intricate rhythmic footwork with bells around one ankle, and the result is captivating.
Gauri Sharma Tripathi
The dancing is accompanied by the rhythmic vocal syllables known as bols. I first tried to perform these last year in a collaboration with Nitin Sawnhey, and was amazed at the similarities to beatboxing. Just as in beatbox, you use phonetic sounds to create a rhythmic pattern, holding a groove and creating a beat.
So here’s the juicy bit of this collaboration – Gauri has amassed a 35-strong ‘choir’ of her Kathak students, and has spent the last couple of months focusing on the vocal element of their training. They’ve put the bells on their arms and have been working on rhythmic soundscapes. I’m going to meet them next week to hear what they have been working on. The plan is to incorporate this group with some of my beatbox students and create a Kathak beatbox choir, which we are calling ‘Urban Vani’.
In the meantime, Gauri and I have been experimenting with merging the two vocal disciplines. Here is what it sounded like:
Shlomo and Gauri – Kathak beatbox rehearsal (MP3 2.3MB)
This is going to be by far the most developed collaboration in the series so far.. normally we only get a chance to work on things at the last minute. Although Susheela and her band are out of the country at the moment so who knows how ‘organic’ that part of the collaboration will have to be!
I’ll post up more about all this once I’ve met the choir. But right now I’ve got my grin back 
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Videos from the ‘Concert Against Knife Crime’ in HD
Videos from Shlomo’s recent ‘Concert Against Knife Crime‘ are now online in HD. You can see Shlomo and the Vocal Orchestra collaborate with loads of stars including Jarvis Cocker, Teddy Thompson, Ashley Walters, Mutya Buena, Martina Topley-Bird, Cleveland Watkiss and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, plus a hilarious beatbox battle between Bellatrix and comedian Marcus Brigstocke.
Here’s Jarvis singing ‘Fat Children’ with the Vocal Orchestra (with Bellatrix on bass!)…
Ashley Walters, Mutya Buena, Shlo and the VO:
Our group finale – wait for Jarvis’s skipdance!!!
Cleveland Watkiss – this guy smashed it… this was the FIRST TIME WE’D MET! ONSTAGE!!
Marcus Brigstocke vs Bellatrix – Beatbox BAttle
Vanessa Carlton:
Teddy Thompson and Shlo:
Behind the scenes
Big shout to Matt Wainwright for shooting and editing the videos!
signing out
yo… have a great holidays, thanks for reading my blog in 2008! here’s to another great year.
check out these pics from the concert against knife crime at southbank, more to come soon
Love from
SHLO
x
Guest artists at the Concert Against Knife Crime
We are pleased to announce some of the special guests at Shlomo’s benefit concert at the QEH on December 13th.
MUSIC THROUGH UNCONVENTIONAL MEANS: A CONCERT AGAINST KNIFE CRIME will feature beatbox artist SHLOMO and his VOCAL ORCHESTRA collaborating with over 13 diverse artists including JARVIS COCKER, MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD, MARCUS BRIGSTOCKE, SEB ROCHFORD, VANESSA CARLTON and GET CAPE.WEAR CAPE.FLY plus young performers from local youth forum SE1 United and the BAC Beatbox Academy.
Other guests will include ASHLEY WALTERS, TEDDY THOMPSON, FYFE DANGERFIELD (GUILLEMOTS) and PETE LOCKETT.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is supporting the performance saying: “Music and other creative activities can provide the much needed opportunities and motivation for young people to reach their potential and stay on the right track. I am pleased to be able to support Shlomo’s event and I wish him well with his future outreach projects.”
There are only a few tickets left so get in quick! More information on the event page.
pics from birthday gig at qeh
Yo..
We played at the QEH (sold out!) on Friday.. my birthday was on the Monday so I got to celebrate twice!
the new members of the vocal orchestra getting ready to go on
I did a duet with Fyfe Dangerfield of the Guillemots.
I’ll stick up some audio on the podcast from the Fyfe collaboration soon (i’m currently going through all the audio from the arctic – got SO much quality stuff!!
also did a duet with MC Zani (current national beatbox champion)
the new Vocal Orchestra on stage at QEH
they brought me a birthday cake and made me ‘beatbox’ out the candles!!
taking a bow
me DJing afterwards
It was my first ever DJ set, which i decided to do to celebrate my birthday and as an excuse to play a whole load of 90s classics. my mixing is awful though, so it was simultaneously the best and the worst dj set ever done.
Glasto photos
Check out RJ Fernandez‘s shots from the 2 hour Unconventional Means show at Glastonbury. See the full photo set here.
Glastonbury diary – part 3
It’s 3pm. The show starts at 6. Emily Eavis has given us free reign of the Park Stage for two hours.
I’ve got the Vocal Orchestra and a heap of guest collaborators and I need to rehearse. We find a bar backstage with a decent soundsystem and get to it. Before I know it we are ready to go on, Park Stage is totally rammed!
The sun has come out and the people are smiling. Pavan from Foreign Beggars is helping me host the stage. I hear him saying my name followed by a cheer and next thing I know I am beatboxing to about 10,000 Glastonbury punters.
I kick it off with a short solo set to introduce the crowd to what I do. As I power up my looping setup, there is a loud popping noise followed by silence. I’m told that I have blown the generator for the entire Park Area. Oops. Now I am freaking out – so much work has gone into this show. This can’t be the end of it! The audience aren’t having any of it… they remain enthusiastic, singing and cheering until the power eventually comes back on. Phew!
No time to lose now, I skip straight to my drum n bass looping song to get everyone moving again, and then bring out the Vocal Orchestra. They are on fire today.
The Vocal Orchestra
What follows is a unique mish-mash of guest stars performing spontaneously. The music ranges from folk to jazz to hip hop to tabla to scratch battles to raucous sing-a-longs. If you would like to hear some of the music you will have to wait for the podcast – we did an audio diary of the whole weekend which will be out soon. There are some pics below, mostly taken by RJ Fernandez, more to come.
Martha Wainwright sang a version of ‘In the Middle of the Night’ with me on beats
Martina Topley-Bird sang ‘Police and Thieves’ by Junior Mervin with the Vocal Orchestra as backing band
DJ Yoda survived a scratch battle with Bellatrix!
Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly performed ‘Ghost Town’ by the Specials with the Vocal Orchestra
Ed Harcourt presented me with a fake diamond encrusted golden microphone onstage… I think he wanted me to look as bling as Jay-Z! Then he sang ’50 ways to leave your lover’
Me, Ed Harcourt, Pavan and Reverend from the Makers (these pics courtesy of BBC)
The other guests were Portico Quartet, Pete Lockett and Lemn Sissay.
It was a moving experience, I came off stage exhausted but happy – I felt like all the collaborations and musical experiences from the past year as resident at Southbank have armed me with all the tools I needed to rock a two hour improvised show. It was probably the best show I’ve ever done, certainly the most fun show I have been a part of. I can’t wait to do it again. Watch this space!
Collaborators brain dump
Southbank have invited me back for another year as Artist in Residence. This is great, as it means I’ll be based there at least until next Summer.
Jane from the Southbank Centre asked me who I would like to collaborate with for “unconventional means” next year. I said Stevie Wonder. She said why not. Then she asked me to write a “brain-dump” list of artists starting with Stevie. Here’s the list so far (it’s not quite finished yet).
- Stevie Wonder
- Paul Simon
- Joni Mitchell
- Keith Jarrett
- Peter Gabriel
- Sting
- Bebel Gilberto
- Björk
- Nitin Sawhney
- Ozomatli
- John Scofield
- Sigur Ros
- Mariza
- Squarepusher
- The Prodigy
- Unkle/ James Lavelle
- Van Morrison
- Alex Turner
- Thom Yorke
- Bobby McFerrin
- Damian Marley
- Danger Mouse
- Easy Star Allstars
- DJ Shadow
- Eels
- Four hero
- Roni Size
- Alex Kapranos
- Fat Freddy’s Drop
- Portishead
- Imogen Heap
- Lauren Hill
- Gilles Peterson
- Heritage Orchestra
- Ojos De Brujo
- Tinariwen
- Susheela Raman
- Mike Patton
- Gonzales
- Gotan Project
- Herbie Hancock
- Ladysmith Black Mambazo
- Matmos
- De La Soul
- Annie Lennox
- The Specials
- Brian Eno
- Candi Staton
- Camille
- Baaba Maal
- Anoushka Shankar
- Tony Allen
a tune for you
Here’s an MP3 of me jamming on my new ‘hernia rig’* (2 loopstations and a kaoss pad) at the QEH last month. It’s from my solo set, before I collaborated with Mad Professor.
I’m calling it ‘Kernia’. Check it out here: Kernia.
the hernia rig
*it was named the hernia rig by Tony Birch (my right hand man, best production manager in world) after he nearly killed himself trying to lift it!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
It was the World’s Largest Beatbox Choir… I think!
Saturday was an amazing concert, and one of the proudest moments of my career. It was great to perform again with my Vocal Orchestra, but the highlight for me was our ‘Beatbox Chorus’ – 25 kids from a range of backgrounds in South London. Jes and Zani, two beatboxers from my choir, have been working with these young people since the beginning of the year, firstly at the Beatbox Academy that we set up at BAC, and then at Southbank for the weeks before the show.
It was incredible to see these youngsters get up and beatbox in front of a sold-out QEH (about 1,000 people). Some of them had no musical experience whatsoever, and performing on a stage of that scale was a first for all of them. Someone said to me after the show that they loved the performance, but that maybe we should have got some kids who couldn’t already beatbox. I was exasperated: the kids had learnt their skills from scratch, in an amazingly short time. Maybe people didn’t understand how much work had gone into the project, and that drive came mostly from the kids themselves.
The “Beatbox Chorus” looking as mean they can!
