yo.. what a hectic week, things are hotting up getting ready for the big show!
On Friday I had a meeting with MP David Lammy, and interviewed him for the short film on knife crime that we are screening at the benefit gig… he was recently Minister for Culture and is now Minister of State for Higher Education, and he’s a humble guy. He grew up in a tough background; many of the people he went to school with are now locked up or involved in crime. He escaped through a music scholarship and went on to make something of his life.
Shlomo and David Lammy MP
Then on Saturday I was working with a group of young people from the Beatbox Academy getting ready for their performance at the big show. They are an amazing bunch… some of them have been with us for nearly two years and are starting to develop truly original beatbox styles of their own.
Reuben
Joe
RJ Fernandez is working on a photographic study of the beatbox academy allstars.
Whilst chatting to a couple of the lads about the anti-knife crime message of this gig, they told me some stories of the regularity of getting robbed on their estates. One of our young beatboxers has made a special ankle pocket in the inside lining of his trousers, so that his phone can’t be found when he gets robbed… not in case he gets robbed, but when…. that sucks.
Hi. OK it’s true, I have a strange belief that beatboxing can save the world. I’ve talked about this before on this very blog, but the essence of what I’m getting at is this: music can be a powerful tool for bringing people together, and changing despondent attitudes.
All of a sudden, these ideas seem to be gathering momentum.
The good news
The first bit of news is, after some seriously determined graft from BAC’s fundraising department, we have finally got the funding to run the Beatbox Academy for a full year, starting in January. This is so awesomely exciting that I am having difficulty restraining myself from high-fiving unsuspecting passengers on the train I am typing this from.
So this is step one of the action plan – sorted. More about the action in a minute.
video of the BAC Beatbox Academy in action
more good news
In the meantime, the MTUM Concert Against Knife Crime has just sold out, and an amazing array of guests have stepped forward to support these ideas. Names like Jon McClure (aka Rev of the makers), Sam Duckworth (aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly), Ashley Walters (aka Asher D from So Solid Crew) and Jarvis Cocker are all going to perform. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has given us a statement of support, and Southbank Centre are inviting down several MPs who could really make a difference.
Why knife crime?
Recently I was asked why I wanted to do a benefit show specifically focusing on fighting knife crime. I am concerned about the escalating numbers of young people who are turning to knife crime – you hear about it every day. I am glad to see that the issue is getting attention in the press, and I am seeing a lot talk from politicians about how to solve it.
However, I am not seeing the politicians mention music.
I really believe that beatboxing, and music in general, gives us the potential to inspire a change, to move away from the despondent attitudes that have lead to current problems with post-code wars, drugs, knives and gun crime. I know from our experiences with the Academy that working creatively with young people provides the opportunity for them to take an interest in their own development. Suddenly it can be considered cool to apply yourself to something.
Beatbox Academy in action
I know what it is like to get caught up in violent behaviour. I had a privileged upbringing, but as a youth I managed to get caught up with a crowd who were experimenting with violence. It ended up in a particularly bloody fight, a boot to the head, concussion and a broken face requiring reconstructive surgery.
Once I had recovered, one scarily instinctive urge was to round up the biggest gang I could muster, and go pay the perpetrator a visit he would not forget.
It could have easily spiralled out of control - but I walked away. I am so glad that I didn’t take the violent retaliation route. Music was my way out, along with the support of my family.
Fast-forward 11 years, and I’m trying to imagine the exact same situation, only magnified with the presence of knives, drugs, and in some areas, guns. I want to help.
some of our young beatboxers
How can music help?
So – why beatboxing? Well, it is cool. Anyone can learn it. It’s free - no need to spend a penny on equipment, you take it everywhere you go. Some of the young people we have worked with have been excluded from school, and I have noticed an attitude where it is deemed un-cool to show enthusiasm about anything. Well here is an excuse. Once you can drop a few beats, spit a few bars or show some kind of musical ability, you can get respect.
What’s next
After the show, there are big plans for 2009. As I said the Academy will kick off in January. This is amazing, but we need to secure some long-term funding to turn this into a national movement.
The main obstacle ahead of us is the lack of experienced beatbox tutors. So the first goal is to create a course where we can teach how to teach beatbox. Then we can move forward to set up Beatbox Academies in schools, youth clubs and arts centres around the UK.
If you know anyone who is a talented vocalist, good with young people, and wants to help the cause, please get in touch. And if you know anyone with a few million quid, they’d be good to know too.
If people listen, fix up and take part, we can really harness the power of creative arts as a way to fight negative attitudes, and then save the world.
We started the BAC Beatbox Academy with some outreach workshops in schools and youth clubs. One teacher responded to our follow up call with: “No, no you don’t want to bother contacting him, he’s a nightmare. He is disruptive, noisy, sometimes violent and cannot concentrate on anything for more than 5 seconds. He’s been excluded from this school.”
Eventually we got hold of him through his mates. He is one of the most dedicated, focused and fast-learning students I have ever worked with.
During the Academy’s term, a group of kids come together for two hours every Saturday. Some of them are from difficult backgrounds, with little going on at school that they care about. When they are with us, they work together to develop their own music, experiment with their voices and improvise in a group situation. At the end of the course, each young beatboxer records a video for a DVD which they can take home and show to their mates, and the course ends with a show for family and friends.
The next big step is to teach some of the older kids how to be leaders themselves, so that the movement can keep on developing.
Bringing all these young beatboxers onstage at the QEH earlier this month has proved to me that beatboxing is a way of bringing people together. In the past year I’ve seen grannies beatboxing side by side with “hoodies”, and I’ve seen parents amazed by the talent they never realised their child had.
Group beatbox teaching is a unique technique for encouraging people to connect with others in a positive, musical way, without looking un-cool.
I think these ideas have the potential to change the attitudes of certain young people. Attitudes which are currently leading to a downward spiral of post-code wars, drugs, knife crime and in some areas gun crime. It gives young people an excuse to take an interest in learning, applying themselves, and taking some positive steps out of the vicious chain of events in their lives.
Saturday was an amazing concert, and one of the proudest moments of my career. It was great to perform again with my Vocal Orchestra, but the highlight for me was our ‘Beatbox Chorus’ – 25 kids from a range of backgrounds in South London. Jes and Zani, two beatboxers from my choir, have been working with these young people since the beginning of the year, firstly at the Beatbox Academy that we set up at BAC, and then at Southbank for the weeks before the show.
It was incredible to see these youngsters get up and beatbox in front of a sold-out QEH (about 1,000 people). Some of them had no musical experience whatsoever, and performing on a stage of that scale was a first for all of them. Someone said to me after the show that they loved the performance, but that maybe we should have got some kids who couldn’t already beatbox. I was exasperated: the kids had learnt their skills from scratch, in an amazingly short time. Maybe people didn’t understand how much work had gone into the project, and that drive came mostly from the kids themselves.
