Part human beatboxer, part jazz drummer, part musician-at-large, Shlomo has worked for years to push the boundaries of beatboxing as a collaborative musical artform
2007-04-14
One of the world's leading beatboxers, Shlomo has worked for years to push the boundaries of beatboxing as an art form. Classically trained as a drummer and percussionist since the age of 8, Shlomo took up jazz drums in his teens. In 2002 he moved to Leeds to study Astrophysics, but his beatboxing quickly got him noticed and he joined the award-winning hip hop group 'Foreign Beggars' soon after, heading on tour across the UK, Europe and Canada.
In August 2004, Shlomo was invited by Icelandic singer Bjork to beatbox on her all-vocal album 'Medulla'. The track, 'Oceania', was commissioned to be performed at the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Athens. An estimated audience of 4.5 billion viewers saw this performance, making Shlomo the most heard beatboxer in history, although most would not have realised that the drum sounds were vocal.
Suddenly finding himself headlining as a solo act, Shlomo wanted to expand his performances to be more than just beats and tricks. He created a pioneering new show combining beatboxing and drumming at the same time, as well as using a loop sampler to create layers of structured original music.
Remember where you read of him first.