Shlomo (beatboxing Artist) - Career

Career

Shlomo first began performing as a beatboxer in 2002 when he became the champion at the King of the Jam beatboxing tournament in London, winning a pot of bonne mamon jam. He became known for his original beatboxing techniques including his 2-mic trancebox routine which he debuted at the World Beatbox Convention in 2003.

He first came to broader attention in 2004 when he collaborated with Björk on her all vocal song Oceania, which Björk later performed at the opening ceremony of the Athens of the 2004 Summer Olympics. The song Oceania was commissioned by the Olympic Games Committee and heard by an estimated 3.9 billion people around the world making Shlomo one of the most-heard beatboxers in history (although most would not have realised that the drum sounds were vocal). The performance was nominated for a Grammy Award. He began touring the UK, Europe and Canada with London hip hop act Foreign Beggars, before making a solo appearance on Later... with Jools Holland in late 2005. In 2006, after an appearance on the Radio 1 Rap Show, hip hop DJ Tim Westwood named Shlomo the 'Harry Potter of beatbox'. Following a performance at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall concert hall, he became Artist in Residence at Southbank Centre in 2007.

As part of his residency at Southbank Centre, Shlomo curated and performed in a collaborative concert series Music Through Unconventional Means from 2007 to 2010 which featured a diverse range of artists including Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, DJ Yoda and Jarvis Cocker.