Joining the extensive queue at Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure … For Kids! I realised that I had just done my bit to up the average age of the audience quite considerably. Feeling somewhat self-consciously childless, I took my seat and adopted the nearest family to help me gauge the success (or not) of the forthcoming show. Somewhere between the build up for a Christmas Panto and a Take That concert, the anticipation in the dark, claustrophobic depths of the Underbelly built expectantly. But this was expectation with an edge. As an experienced teacher, I appreciate that there can be few audiences more demanding - and downright intimidating - than a room full of little kids. I admired Shlomo for taking on this challenge before he had even set foot on stage. A beatboxer and a room full of 5-11 year olds? This could be the greatest car-crash of cultures since Boris Johnson danced to the Spice Girls at the Olympic Closing Ceremony.
Any such fears were soon allayed, however. Taking the stage to some of his trademark beatboxing sounds, Shlomo had the audience eating out of his hand from the start. Beginning with a history of beatboxing, he soon had the audience having a go for themselves. A naturally gifted teacher, the show was pitched well to its young audience, without being patronising. Shlomo taught us how to make the basic sounds and how to put phrases together without turning blue and passing out from oxygen deprivation. He wanted to show the next generation how to do it and they loved him for it. There was the inevitable beatbox face-off between two teams plucked from the audience, ending in a diplomatic draw to the delight of the crowd. Shlomo ended this joyous hour with a demonstration of where these simple techniques can lead. As the lights dimmed and the volume cranked up, he performed two tracks using his trademark Loopstation to layer his vocal effects and brought the house down in wonder at the impossible sounds coming from this man’s mouth. This is a guy at the very top of his game and he has to be seen - or heard - to be believed!
Listening to the buzz from the children outside after the show, they clearly had a wonderful time. They excitedly queued up to meet Shlomo, buy a CD and high-five their hero. But that wasn’t where his success ended. Throughout, it was clear that the parents were having just as good a time as their kids – maybe even better. While the children milled around outside the venue, it was their parents who were rehearsing their newly found ‘moves’ to one another. They willingly slipped their children banknotes to pay for the CDs, because they had designs on keeping them for themselves. I wonder how many mummies and daddies will be bustin’ their newly-found gangsta vibes in the shower tomorrow morning. All to help their kids, of course…
