Beardyman
Between beatbox, stand-up comedy and loop show stands a steep high mountain. On the mountain, there is an impregnable fort with a fearless ruler, Beardyman. He goes down to the clubs and festivals to show his fans how the limits of improvisation and work with human voice can be pushed. All wrapped in a good deal of fun. More than 50 million views on YouTube is not a proof of his talent, but of poor marketing, because this guy’s got the potential to top one billion.
20. March 2015
See for yourself. Darren Foreman started playing with his voice at the age of three after he saw Police Academy starring the legendary Michael Winslow. But it was seeing Rahzel of the Roots perform live that convinced him that beatboxing could sustain a whole show. At the age of ten, he composed a symphony for his school orchestra. Discovering drum and bass when he was fifteen led to his love for electronic music. At twenty-five, he became UK Beatbox Champion and was the first beatboxer to win the championship twice in a row. Genre-wise, his music is influenced by drum and bass, dubstep, breakbeat, trance, techno, hip-hop, but there are other influences that define his work, for example reggae or classical music. Beardyman’s music is created by his voice alone. With the use of electronic equipment, he creates a spectrum of known as well as unknown sounds. He has released two albums to date: I Done A Album (2011) and Distractions (2013). He’s got his own show One Album Per Hour based on audiences’ suggestions chosen by a guest “producer”. Beardyman teamed up with Google and created the world’s first live broadcast interactive jam between him and Jack Black. The cooperation allowed him to record in multiple locations in real time. Beardyman is also a top-class inventor. He built the Beardytron 5000, a customized setup of tools that he constantly upgrades, because none of the existing machines was capable of producing what he had in his head. He introduced the public to Beardytron and its functionalities at his TED talk in 2013. He also knows how to look dumbstruck and to burst into laughter at the same time. Just check his videos. If you think they are pretended, stylized, not authentic enough or even terrible, soon, you’re going to have the chance to come and confirm their genuineness at Bažant Pohoda 2015.