Shlomo visits Vilnius, Lithuania

Report by Mark SPLINTER

This month, Shlomo bravely set out to visit Vilnius, Lithuania. I invited him here to do a workshop and some shows, and have some fun. We made a party called TAM TAM TAM which means nothing in either English, or Lithuanian, but it comes from an old record somewhere. Check the site here. The idea of the party was to have stupid video and decorations and music in the evening, and also a serious educational workshop in the day. So people gathered in the afternoon, some curious, some already beatboxers, to hear the Shlomo speak. Due to strange vibes coming from the venue, and also the date (Friday 13th), we had some problems getting started, but the Shlomo workshop was unstoppable.

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I have to say Shlomo is an amazing professional as well as an incredible beatboxer, and this is a lesson for anyone who wants to take their beatboxing further. We managed to be in a good mood despite 2 weeks of late nights organising, and we started the workshop. Shlomo focussed on live technique, giving hints on stage presence and microphone positioning, all with clear examples. Even I managed to learn something from him, and I thought I knew everything about everything.

The best part was when he demonstrated a few sounds and people joined in, all doing rubbishy pf snares and hi hats and things, followed by Shlomo's devastating amplified version. At the end he gave a ridiculously powerful performance, the sound system was better than I expected, it reminded me of the '03 convention, pushing at the floor from above. Then he was joined onstage by locals Gon and MowF for some hints and tips, there was an improvised mini jam where the locals showed that beatbox is truly alive in Vilnius, so big ups to them. And then we went off for pizza. When we returned, the place was fully decorated with camels and suit jackets with photocopied heads on them. All this was organised by the Fresh Rice Crew to perfection. People were starting to arrive but we had to go off to the hardcore club Vault for a sneaky little drum and bass set.

Vault actually is a vault, an old bunker on a hill just outside the centre. It is dirty and dark and perfect for some serious junglism. The sound system could handle the bass, and we had a soundcheck earlier so it wasn't a total disaster. A bit of feedback if he stood in the wrong place, that sort of thing. But the bass was LOUD.

Of course, his drum and bass beatbox amazed everybody, but the maddest part was when he started MCing really fast, surprising us both

And he kept dancing to my tunes, jumping so much that the needles jumped along with him on our wobbly Lithuanian style booth... But he was happy so I let him carry on doing his thing

I am serious about hospitality! And we had a really good gig, I love that place and I hope we can play there again for sure.

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So anyway, back to the infamous Intro for the evening's party, but not before we stopped by Cafe de Paris for a little dub reggae from Johnathon, a local DJ who plays seriously good selections. We chilled with a drink for a while, invited Ovidijus the local insane vocal scratcher and crazy dancer to come with us, and headed back to TAM TAM TAM. The party was now very interesting, some fighting outside had spattered the pavement with blood, and I have to say the police were no use, but the seurity guard from the venue was really good and about the only proper professional in the building. So yet more Friday 13th bad luck was dealt with, and we concentrated on the performance. Some of the crowd had seen Shlomo at the workshop earlier and were pushing up at the front from the beginning, but when he started, people came from all corners to see what on earth was going on, and we had a party on our hands.

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Shlo did a full spectrum, some amazing noises I have never heard before, and he totally smashed the crowd. After all our hard work I still had enough energy left over to be amazed, beatboxing really doesn't get boring. So we had a final drink, went home, and like true rockstars, we had some tea and went to bed. The morning after was beautiful and I just had some time to get photos on the way to the airport, before the amazing Shlomo flew out with a polite goodbye. For days people were ringing me asking "Is Shlomo still in Lithuania? Can we meet?"

Thankyou Lithuania

you treated him good and allowed us to bring the humanbeatbox.com style education and jam combination to a new place. And thanks of course to Shlomo for the amazing performance and backstage politeness!

Words by Mark SPLINTER Pictures by Mark SPLINTER and Arkasha

shlo.co.uk splinterproducts.com fresh-rice.com vault.lt

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