“Beatboxing transformed my sense of self”

Photo credit @markjosephanthonyuk

“Beatboxing transformed my sense of self”

How SK Shlomo’s #BeatboxForKids show is helping others to explore their identity

🎤 Identity Matters Y’all! This has been on my mind so I’m just going to say it: I feel like beatboxing isn’t just about making music with your mouth - it has played a HUGE role in me finding my voice, and being ok with who I ACTUALLY am. This is why I wanted my #BeatboxForKids show to be much more than just entertainment. Yes, it’s all about fun and playful beatboxing, but it’s also a space where kids, young people, and their grownups can celebrate who they TRULY are. 🌟

🧠 My Story: When I was a kid, I struggled with my identity - being from a foreign family and not knowing I was neurodivergent. I did not understand why I was constantly having a hard time when others seemed just fine, so I kept it secret.

It wasn’t until much later in life that I realised my undiagnosed ADHD and autism had been shaping every detail of how I interact with the world.

Beatboxing became a crucial part of my life. Without knowing it, the beatboxing helped me manage sensory overload - providing an inner rhythmic world that I could control. Making mouth music was a sort of audio version of daydreaming - an escape from the relentless, unpredictable and confusing world outside. I never knew others did it, and I thought it was just a way to practice drumming without disturbing the neighbours, but now I sometimes see beatboxing as form of “stimming” (a way that neurodivergent people cope with intense sensory environments). 🎵

🎉 Now It’s My Job! I get to make this music onstage, around the world! In my #BeatboxForKids show I set a quest for everyone to become not just a beatboxer, but a SUPERSTAR Beatboxer, using a mix of stories, creative skills and interactive games to get the audience moving, beatboxing and EXPRESSING themselves. I get to turn my own story into a party, an inclusive celebration of individuality.

The show is for all kids, toddlers to teens, but it’s particularly fun for their grown-ups who are often the most excited of them all. 🚀

Inclusivity Matters: As someone who often felt like a weirdo with a BUNCH of “labels”, I wanted to weave into all the music and creative play some important themes around being anti-racist, disability aware and gender inclusive. ✊ One of the first tasks in our quest to become Superstar Beatboxers is learning about the birth of beatboxing, which of course came from the hip-hop movement. Hip-hop is a Black culture, which is not always acknowledged by the modern beatboxing world, so we explore the importance of not just rejecting racism, but being actively anti-racist. I’ve had so many beautiful messages from grownups who have then been able to have their first conversations around anti-racism with their kids and explore how they want to build their own values around inclusivity and allyship. 🌍

💬 Celebrating Identity: I also love that the show gives me a space to openly celebrate my own identity in terms of being non-white, being disabled and non-binary. I love getting messages from families who’ve seen the show and then realised that they too are neurodivergent, sometimes the kids, often the adults, and a lot of them leading them to receiving diagnoses and support. 🌻

✨🏳️‍🌈 Helping People: So although I never knew it would, this show ended up HELPING people! Not just to have fun and learn a new music skill, but to find and embrace their true SELVES! It’s about becoming not just a superstar beatboxer, but a superstar YOU, no matter who you are. If you’re like me and suspect that music is your superpower, that’s wonderful, but you can identify however you want, so please go and do just that.

The real message is to never apologise for who you are. Breathe into it, do some practice, and become the biggest, boldest and most bad-ass version of yourself, if you’re 5 or if you’re 105! 🌟🎤

Shlomo’s Beatbox Adventure For Kids is at London’s Underbelly Festival on Sun 11 Aug 2024.

Head to 👉http://beatboxadventures.com for a 15% discount 😁