Catch up with the godfather of beatboxing who is in town today

His collaboration with Bjork had nominated him for a Grammy, he started the world's first beatbox choir called Vocal Orchestra, he made the crowds go crazy at the Glastonbury music festival. He collaborated with the likes of Nitin Sawhney and Swarthama with astounding results. With such an impressive CV, Shlomo -- one of the most acclaimed names in international beatboxingu00a0-- is now touring India. MiDDAY caught up with him as he geared up to perform at the Capital tonight.

Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue and voice. It may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntables, the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments.



How did you take to beatboxing?
I've been making noises since I was tiny, before I knew it was called beatboxing. I took up drums at the age of eight and the vocal stuff was just a way of practicing the drums when I didn't have my kit. I didn't hear any other beatboxers until my teens and I was excited -- I had to learn how to do that!

Why do you only release your music online?
For me releasing my music online for free was the obvious way to do it -- I knew I would never make money from selling records as beatboxing is such a live experience -- it's more of a performance art than a recorded one. So any music I make, I like to share just for the fun of it.