Archive for June, 2008

OK. I’m all packed. Got my boots and wet wipes. I’m not sure what to expect weather-wise but I’m prepared for the worst! I’ve camped at Glastonbury for the last two festivals, got drenched, but still loved it.

Me at Glasto last year

Been rehearsing all day at Southbank with a whole selection of artists who will be joining me on Park Stage on Saturday evening. I had Nitin Sawhney down today jamming with Pete Lockett on tabla and Orifice from Foreign Beggars rapping. Also had Ed Harcourt down as well as Portico Quartet. Those guys and MANY MORE will all be collaborating and performing on our stage at Glasto!

I’m also playing two guest slots on the Pyramid Stage this year.. on Friday with Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and on Saturday with Martha Wainwright.

SO see you on the other side. Wish me luck!!

I’ve been rehearsing all weekend with the choirs in my Onevoice commission. On Sunday it was the first time that we brought together all 120 voices and practised the piece in its entirety.

It was so weird bringing all these different people together for the first time. I’ve been working with them all separately for the last 2 months, and while they were all turning up, I was greeted by so many different people it felt like somebody’s wedding.

The whole experience has been amazing so far, working with such a diverse range of people from totally different walks of life. I’ve been learning a lot as well as we go along, about leading music and how to get people to respond to each other. Also I’ve been teaching singing which is something I would never have been confident with in the past.

The kids are incredibly enthusiastic, and it rubs off on all the grown ups. I’ve been getting them all to play little games in between rehearsing. At first I was unsure about asking the adults to do silly things that were clearly for the benefit of the kids, but as one of them pointed out, in a community project like this there *are* no grown ups!

That’s it now, no more rehearsals…. Bring on Respect Festival!

In Venezuela being in a youth orchestra is as cool as playing in the football team. Kids from all kinds of backgrounds take part from an early age and the results are amazing. These guys are coming to Southbank in April. They are called the Simón Bolívar Orchestra and they seriously ROCK:

I’m hoping to work with them whilst they are in London, and do some experimenting with mixing beatboxing with classical music. I used to play in local youth orchestras myself, and played at the Albert Hall and Festival Hall a few times. Check me out giving it some on the timpani aged 16:

Yesterday I was supposed to be jamming with Sam Duckworth aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, but his fingers got trapped in a door the night before so we drank tea instead. I was introduced to him earlier this year by Nitin Sawnhey who produced his last album.

Sam was telling me about his plans to take a year out from performing, once the festivals are over, to focus on writing his third album. He is planning to write a song every day for a year, summing up his mood for that day. He also talked about a feeling he gets once he has written a song: it starts off as an expression of his own emotions, but then it sort of becomes shared property once it has been recorded or performed, as each listener has their own take on the meaning of the song.

I’ve never been a songwriter, I’ve always been more interested in playing around with sound and rhythm. I’m hoping that hanging around with people like Sam and also Lemn (writer in residence at Southbank) will help me to get into it!

Hi, Shlo here. So you might know we are hosting our own stage for the Saturday evening at the Glastonbury Park Stage this year. The idea is that my beatbox choir (Shlomo and the Vocal Orchestra) will be the backing band for a series of guest-star collaborations.

Emily Eavis is curating the Park Stage and she has invited several of the festival’s key artists to collaborate with us.

The lineup is a secret but you can probably guess some of the names by looking at previous Unconventional Means lineups, then throw in a few of this year’s headline artists and you have yourself a show!

If you can guess the artists referred to in the following clues, email your name, phone number and answers to competition@shlo.co.uk by 5pm on Friday 20th June and you will be in with a chance of winning two free tickets to the festival.

1. Locating superhero attire
2. Preacher with creators
3. Two offspring of folk-rock dynasties

Last night was the finals of the UK Beatbox Championships. I was one of the judges, which I have been doing since we set up the first competitions up in Leeds in 2004.

It was a bit strange for me this year as this is the first time that I have not been involved in organising the event, and things have changed. In the past, the battles have always been judged on the crowd reaction, which puts entertainment top of the agenda and stops people from taking it excessively seriously. The weird thing last night was that the judges were asked to vote on which beatboxer we thought should go through, similar to the way the judges vote on TV shows like ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.

This was so hard to do, as it meant I was literally being asked to raise my hand and vote for or against each beatboxer. There is no way of saying who is a ‘better’ beatboxer. It is not like a sport, for example running, where you can see unequivocally that one guy ran faster than the other. Comparing two beatboxers is a bit like asking who is the best pianist in the world: there are about a million different ways of playing the thing. I think I offended a couple of beatboxers by not voting for them.

The worst thing of all was having to watch my fellow judge Killa Kela get boo-ed off the stage for going on too long. That was painful - when I first started out Kela was our hero.

But I did have a great night mingling with the crowd and seeing friends on the scene, and MC Zani really deserves his new title as 2008 UK Beatbox Champion. He also drives home in a brand new car courtesy of the sponsors. Maybe you can give me a lift to Glasto Zani?

Yo. right now I am missing the Foreign Beggars Oz tour. That sucks. Check out Orifice crowd surfing.

On wednesday i got a call saying the mighty boosh want to work with me. i’m a big fan!

so I went down to meet them on friday at their secret show at the big chill house where they did their first ever gig as a live band, before they do the same at some festivals over summer.

It was a bit odd just hearing the tunes and not the stories from the tv show, but I was actually really impressed by Julian Barratt’s guitar playing.. he’s got jazz chops! But I guess you have to know a subject before you can really parody it.

anyway they are really nice lads and said that they want to collaborate with me, maybe at the big chill festival in august.. i’m stoked and a bit shell shocked!

I’ve now met all my choirs for the OneVoice commission. I’ve got a mass gospel choir assembled from various churches in West London, a children’s choir, a Brazilian choir called Nossa Voz, and a contemporary choir called The Heard.

Over the next four weeks I have to create the piece that these four choirs will perform to 20,000 people at Respect festival in July. So far I’ve had one session with each group, teaching them how to beatbox and hearing some of their own performance style. I get one more session with each group before they all come together for a final rehearsal. Bellatrix, jestar* and MC Zani will be with me for the rest of the process.

I’m excited now, a bit daunted by the creative process, but got the right team around me and the groups are enthusiastic! Will try and get some photo / video / audio posted up soon. In the mean time get the 6th July in your diaries for respect festival.

Hey.. you might have noticed the new episode of my podcast is up. I’m looking for exciting new artists to feature on there. If you have any suggestions or new music of your own please will you post here by leaving a comment.

Also, I’ve been sent quite a few suggestions for potential future collaborators in my ‘unconventional means‘ series. If you have ideas, please post them also, (you could check out my wish list first).