JOIN USBeatboxing into many hearts
For Joshua R, the world is brimming with unique beats and he loves creating tracks which are out-of-the-box. It was an exciting gig by beatboxer Sudhir, which brought him into the world of exquisite beats almost 7 years back. He never looked back after that life-changing performance.
A final-year BCom student with St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Joshua has performed at many college fests and also at malls like the Forum Mall and Phoenix Market City, and says that the crowd is what excites his music. “From the moment I took up beatboxing, the musical style enraptured me. It is a way of life for me now,” says Joshua. He says that it was a senior, John Niklas who inspired him to try harder. “When I saw a beatboxing performance for the first time, it was a very different experience and it struck a chord in me. I instantly felt that I had to try it. I started off with drum and base and R&B,” says Joshua. He them moved on to EDM, trap and dubstep. “I love working with trap and dubstep styles as they are very exciting. While trap is gaining popularity by the day, dubstep gives one space to experiment and let out themselves,” Joshua explains.
While Joshua loves to perform with a blend of folk, classical and Western, he is enticed more by dubstep and trap. When performing dubstep, Joshua keeps progressing the beats from slow ones to a faster pace and increases the tempo gradually. “It’s wonderful to see the audience mesmerised and involved. The technicality differs genre to genre — the pace changes accordingly. The highest Beats Per Minute (BPM) record I have is 138 beats in EDM, which was on Martin Garrix’s ‘Animal’,” says Joshua.
“I’ve grown with music. I was a drummer and played the cajon earlier and this also triggered the interest into beatboxing. I tried to experiment more, interacted with people and would turn small gatherings into gigs,” says the youngster. He says that each gig is different in flavour. “I modify each track according to the audience. If the crowd is a young one consisting of 20 year olds, I try EDM and dubstep. But if the crowd is a bit older, I go with R&B, so that people can associate to it,” says Joshua.
Though he has varied tracks to his credit, he hasn’t named them yet. “I have experimented with tracks at beatboxing battles, but I like performing at gigs more, which will have 2 to 3 other performers. One drops a beat and the others join in and it is really thrilling,” says Joshua. His favourite beatboxer is Alem. “Beatboxing has gained immense popularity in the city. Every third person amongst performers, is a beatboxer now. It is nice to see the community grow,” he says. Though the beatboxing scene has changed widely, Joshua still feels excited every time he goes on stage.
“The crowd excites me like nothing else can,” he says.