Beardyman

Beatboxing is the art of making multiple musical noises at one time with only the use of ones mouth, literally being a human 'beatbox'. It has recently gained mainstream popularity beyond its hip-hop roots and blossomed into an art form all of its own.

Beardyman, (real name Darren Foreman) moved to Brighton in 2001 to study at University, where he very quickly started creating a stir, gigging on campus constantly, playing in bands and an improvised comedy troupe. After seeing Rahzel (a beatbox pioneer) play live however, his focus changed and once he had debuted his beatbox talents at an improv show in 2003, the gigs started to roll in and since then he has wowed and baffled audiences all over the UK and Europe.

He presented Get-lucky T.V’s ‘the freestyle show’, hosted the ‘Nokia Basketball Arena’ in the ‘Earls Court Urban Music Festival’ and has performed with and supported the likes of Grooverider, Shy fx, Killa Kella, Phi-life cipher, Andy C and Jazzy Jeff amongst others, quickly earning him a reputation as an multi-talented, innovative and exhilarating live performer.

This year Beardyman was crowned 2006 UK Beatbox Champion seeing off stiff competition from 8 regional finalists in front of internationally renowned beatbox judges and a live audience.

Beardyman will be touring the UK all throughout 2007, headlining venues with his jaw dropping, full-on set which employs cutting edge live sampling technology and vocal effects processing to make audiences go completely mental, taking the art of vocal performance to an entirely new level. Tonight, however, there will be no gadgets or technology, only the vocal talents of Beardyman and the Young Voices choir.

This must be seen to be believed!

If you would like to see and hear more of Beardyman then check out his website.